Deja Vu

I've always thought my sister looked a lot like my mom, but it didn't strike me how much she truly resembles my mom until I came across this photo last night.

Mark and I were looking through my old family photos (yes, time to share the horrible "this is how I looked as a teen in the 80's pictures"...the horror!) and we came across this photo of me, my mom and my brother. I got this really weird feeling of deja vu the minute I laid eyes on it...probably because essentially the same photo of Michelle, Will and Kate was sitting on my coffee table waiting to be framed.

I immediately grabbed the photo and held them up to each other and was overwhelmed by the likeness (as was Mark). I think you can all agree by looking at these photos that Michelle looks A LOT like my mom - same eyes, same face shape, same smile (okay, M has Dad's nose but still!), same dimples when smiling, similar hair...But when I look at this picture, the similarities go beyond just their physical likeness.

True, they look alike...("as it should be", says Mark)...but I see so much more of my Mom in Michelle now that she is a mother herself. I can see Michelle resembling Mom in the way she rocks Will, in the way she plays with Kate and in the way she adores both with her whole heart.

In looking at the photos side-by-side, I see selflessness. Mom had so much love for us, she was defined by us. Loving us gave her a sense of self that only a mother could know and a child can understand. I can now see the same selflessness in Michelle. And...being one of the kids in the photo, I can understand how loved Kate and Will are going to be. Lucky lucky babies.