like mother, like daughter

"If she was taller, you could be twins!" The woman sitting behind the check-in table at Ana's summer camp was looking right at me and my oldest daughter. I was somewhat taken aback.

"You think so?"

"Oh yes! You even walk the same. Her eyes are a little darker, but other than that she looks exactly like you. You are both beautiful."

I thanked her and smiled, gave Ana a hug and walked back to my car.

I have heard it said before. Especially when people see this picture of me from when I was 5.

That's me on the left.

People say we look just alike. Here is Ana at 5.

Photo by Heather Dahle Photography

Truthfully, I don't see it.  At all. I can sometimes see a little bit of Jack or Katie in old photos of me, but I never see Ana.  Maybe it's the bangs?

Usually when I think about the way we are alike, I am frustrated. Mostly frustrated with myself.  I am emotional. She is emotional. I get irrational when I am tired. She gets irrational when she is tired. I am always ready to enter into a debate/argument/fight. So is she. She gets it from me.

The other night I sat on my bed thinking about her.  I was thinking, specifically, of what I love about her and I began to write them down. Her eyes. Her observational skills. Her uncanny ability to find her way around any obstacle. (Even if that obstacle is just Mom saying "no.")  She gets those things from Dave. As I sat over looking the list and smiling as I thought of my little girl, I noticed that most of the list were things that she got from Dave, or things that are uniquely Ana. At the top of the list, the thing that I wrote down first, was written:

Ana is generous. She is always willing to share what she has and to give to others.

She gets that from me.