“Like Father, Like Son etc.”

It amazes me the things families have in common. I mean there are so many traits we share unconsciously. One came to my attention recently when the family gathered together to celebrate the sixth birthday of my grandson Walker.

Walker is a gregarious, charming, fun-loving little boy. He loves sports, toys and his sister. He is always in a good mood and rarely gets upset. What he doesn’t like is the attention birthdays bring. Now don’t get me wrong, he loves the presents; it’s just the cake and the singing and all that stuff he had rather do without.

In that way he is like both me and his dad. I have never liked holidays or special occasions of any sort. I prefer the ordinary, routine days. The same is true of my son Sean. He would rather just skip all that holiday and celebratory stuff, especially that which brings attention to him. Sean and I have always laughed about how much alike we are in this area – and now we realize there is another member of the group and that is Walker.

These shared traits also involve food. I was talking with my brother this week and he was telling me how much he loves bar-b-qued chicken wings, or hot wings as he calls them. He likes to dunk them in ranch dressing. That really sounds yucky to me but to each his own. Then when we were celebrating Walker’s birthday at a local restaurant Sean asked if he could order an appetizer and I said sure. He ordered hot wings with ranch dressing. I guess the hot wings gene jumped from my brother’s side of the family to him.

When Sean was preaching at a local church a few weeks ago, when the service was over a friend of mine told me he was the best of Terry and me. What a great thing that was for her to say, and I do hope it is true. Sean does have my outgoing personality. I can see that. He also has Terry’s sweet disposition, which is much better than mine will ever be.

Then there is my granddaughter Genna. When she was a few years old my wife was told she was not a doll person. My wife definitely is. She loves to play dolls with small children. It is one of the ways she relates to them. When Genna comes to our house she always asks for her doll. It is one my wife got for her and keeps at our house.

For her birthday this year she asked for an American Girl doll and recently spent her own money to buy matching outfits for her and the doll. I guess she is a doll person now, and I think she inherited this from her Nana.

Life gives us a chance to see ourselves replicated over and over. When I look in the mirror now I tend to see my father looking back. I didn’t look that much like him as a younger man but the older I get, the more I see him in me. It is weird.

We are all different and our own individual selves but inside us all there are also components we have inherited from the family tree. Good or bad we are stuck with the traits of our ancestors and we are surely passing them on.

There are chips off the old block and apples that don’t fall far from the tree. Let’s just hope the traits we pass on are some of our best, but that choice isn’t really ours to make.
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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