My husband, Chris, and I peer into our daughter’s face and try
to imagine what our little angel will be like when she’s 5 or 15 or
even 25.
My husband, Chris, and I peer into our daughter’s face and try to imagine what our little angel will be like when she’s 5 or 15 or even 25.
At 7-weeks-old, she’s already displaying some clues: a shy smile: a pouty lip, a furrowed brow and a sly twinkle in her eye.
And she’s not content to be still or lie around for long. She’d rather be upright, facing outward to greet the world and marvel at its sights, sounds and smells.
I wonder will she inherit her Dad’s love of golf or her Mom’s penchant for scribbling to-do lists on the back of envelopes?
It’s a mystery, isn’t it, that which we inherit or learn from our parents? An easygoing temperament may be passed down by blood, but perhaps a love of old movies is fostered over time.
In Chris, I can see his father’s sense of humor, who likes nothing more than a good laugh, and his mother’s fondness for travel, who spends a month at a time abroad broadening her horizons.
He also appreciates a spirited debate, too – a chance to dig in and prove his point, an attribute his father demonstrates beautifully. I have since learned to nod politely when my father-in-law brings up the subject of politics or some other potential lively issue.
As for his respect for the greatest game ever invented – his words, not mine – his family passed along and nurtured that trait. He also has received the distinct inability to stay calm when hungry; something his daughter seems to have acquired as well.
My inherited characteristics are a mixed bag, punctuality (especially before our daughter was born) being one of them. My parents seared this trait into me at an early age. Growing up, my Dad’s mantra was, “Hurry up, we’re burning daylight,” while my Mom’s might as well have been, “It’s better to be early than to be late.”
I also am a recovering multi-tasker, a quality I no doubt inherited from my stay-at-home mother, who juggled carpooling, laundry, science projects and soccer practices while maintaining her sanity and a smile.
My parents also ingrained in me a love for the written word, something I hope to pass down to our daughter.
I guess what it boils down to is that we have little control over what our children “get” from us. We simply have to hope for the best and teach them the things that our parents taught us or those we wish they had. I count among them love, compassion, perseverance and service.
In her own way, with each year that passes, our daughter will reveal to herself and the world her personality. It’s a dynamic thing, one that is shifting and redesigning itself over time and with experience.
But at her core will be traces of my husband and a shadow of me. Hopefully, she’ll inherit the best of each of us and forget the rest.
Whatever emerges, good or bad, wrong or right, she will be just as she was meant to be. And that will be a wondrous, perfect thing.
