When we were young, we always said we would never be like our parents. But, I am here to tell you it happens!
It starts out small: you might not notice it at first, then WHAM! You look in the mirror one day and you see your mom or Dad looking back at you. You not only look like them, you have become a clone. I am convinced that if we took a trip back in time, we would see a part of us in the faces of our ancestors.
I think it all starts when we become parents. you find yourself saying things to your kids that your parents said to you when you were a kid.
Then the physical changes start to appear. Remember how you used to grin and snicker when you glanced over and saw your dad asleep with the newspaper in his hands or noticed your mom dozing off during her favorite TV show.
Yep, I have reached that stage in life. I seem to sleep much easier in the lazy boy than in my bed. My husband cannot sit down on our couch without his eyes closing. He says the couch is too comfortable.
You will never do that, you say. Just wait. Your day will come.
Do you have your middle age body yet? No. Well do not worry, it is hiding around the corner waiting to surprise you when you least expect it. Sometimes I wonder who that slim girl is in those old pictures of me. I may have thought I was too heavy then, but I never had a spec of trouble with my weight until I hit 40. Then it crept up on me at a pound or two a year.
Mom always said she could not snack after supper. I always wondered where she got her will power. My parents would come out and spend Saturdays with us when the kids were little and no matter how hard we tried to get her to eat that bowl of ice cream or hand full of chips or cookies with us in the evening, she turned them down. She said it made her have nightmares. My husband, who loves to snack at night says, "I have the stupidest dreams when I eat late at night. Do you think that is what your mom called nightmares?"
I cannot eat late at night now, but that may be a blessing in disguise. Maybe I will be able to lose those extra pounds that have crept up on me.
Yes, it comes slowly at first; you may not even notice it. However, one day the reality of it all will hit you smack dab in your face. The truth will be staring back at you when you look in the mirror.
You have become your parents. You might as well sit back and accept it.
Hi Janet, yes, I know exactly what you mean! It has happened to me too. I look at my legs and they are my mother's legs and my hands no longer look like my own. She used to take my hands in her's when I was a teenager and say: "Your hands are so pretty baby, I used to have hands just like yours ." We would just lovingly stare intently at each other's hands. I would examine the wrinkles around her knuckles, the thin skin and blue veins. I have the shape of her dear little hands burned into my brain and now mine look exactly like them. In a way it is very comforting, it like a part of her is still with me. :) Have a lovely day ahead Janet! Delisa :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Not only do I see my Mother in me a great deal, and in some ways my Dad too, now that I am older, I have also noticed our daughter, who is just 35, becoming more and more like my husband and me! You would never think it would happen! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my latest post!
This is so true..I see it more each day..people already tell me that I look like my mother but didn't pay much attention to them until now..I get more like them everyday..good post..Susie
ReplyDeleteI understand why your mother passed on the evening snacks. As much as I'd love to enjoy them too, I don't. The calories do burn slower now and I've definitely changed my eating habits over the years, eating less and better as I go!
ReplyDeleteOH, so very true! I don't remember getting "old", but I sure see it and feel it at times! I don't look like my mother, but I can see her in both of my sisters who are older than I am. I try to avoid snacks, but if they get in the house, I can't resist all the time. I try to make sure they don't even enter the house....and fail when it comes to chocolate. I do try to eat healthier and get some exercise. Our city has the shame of being rated the "most obese city in the country" or something of that sort. Horrors!
ReplyDeleteNow you've hit the nail on the head! Just yesterday I thought, the upper half of my face is Mama's and the chin is Daddy's! I hope I can be the kind of person she was.
ReplyDeleteYou are soooo right, Janet. Some days when I look in the mirror, I see my older sister who is deceased. Or I see my mother. Then other times when I least expect it, I see Grandma Casto, mother's mom, whom she called mommy til the day my grandma died at a very old age. Mommy.
ReplyDeleteYes, I resemble mine. I see the same worry lines, the cracks around her mouth. Even her blue eyes though mine are brown like my daddy's.
It is a look passed down through the ages. Each time I delivered a baby, the dr. said, it's another Whittington. Our babies all resembled each other at birth. Funny. But it's the way of life. So get ready younger generation. Here comes age. And lookin' like your elders.
Bless you for writing this. Barb
I've absolutely noticed this to be true! Then, about the time I was admitting that I looked just like my Mom, she got on Nutrasystem and got very svelte. Now, I think I look a bit OLDER than my Mom! That was not very motherly of her, don't you agree?
ReplyDeleteThe whole post is spot on. My wife feels ill if she eats too late, and I don't sleep well if I do.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, you hit the nail on the head with this post. Not only am I turning into my parents, I welcome it!
ReplyDeleteWhen we attended my wife's high-school reunion in Rainelle some years ago, she initially recognized no one in the room. But then she began to recognize the parents of her former classmates! I just wish I were as thin as my father was!
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right about sleeping our best on the couch or in the recliner. If I sit up straight, I can stay awake, but the moment I lie down, my eyes close and I sleep soundly for about two hours. Ahem...everyone my age says this, so it must be age related :)
ReplyDeleteJanet-you are so right! I hear things Granny said to me when I was little fly right out of my mouth all the time!!! Things I said I wouldn't say LOL!
ReplyDeletePeople have been telling me since I was in my 20's that I sound like their mom when I spit out something that my mom would say. And everytime I look in the mirror I see a little of both of my parent staring back at me. It really doesn't bother me. It actually kinda makes me smile a little. I miss them so.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind seeing my parents' faces looking back in the mirror. It's comforting to be connected to the past that way.
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