Oloriel is the host of this share-yourself type of challenge. Check it out here: https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/19271780/posts/4180167138

This week, I would like to invite you to explore just these patterns; if it was up to me I would say focus on the cute, little ones in yourself, your kin and those around you that you generationally and environmentally inherited or passed on, but you can likewise touch up on those that frighten you or make you question things.

Just a brief overview of my family…

On my dad’s side: I never met my grandfather as he had already passed away before I was born. My dad never said much about him but implied he was a hard worker. My grandmother died when I was a young child and I can remember her a little but mostly her sitting in a wheelchair in a nursing home in Brooklyn, NY. My father had a wife and two daughters before he married my mother and had me, my sister and my little brother.

On my mom’s side: My mother passed away when I was 23. We were close and it was especially hard to get married and have two babies without her. I remember her so vividly, yet I can’t remember her at all. My grandfather passed away when I was little. I have one memory of him; we were sitting at a picnic table out in the yard. That’s is all I have. My grandmother passed away when I was maybe 10. I remember a lot more about her. I can picture her house and how it smelled. All the crap she had everywhere! I got that from her!

I inherited a lot from both of my parents and now that my father is in my care and more like a child (due to the dementia and Alzheimer’s) I am seeing things that we do the same and it is weird!
My mother was great at everything she did and I try to be like she was. When she made something, whether it was food, some sort of craft, or a Halloween Costume, it was perfect. Now, as you may know I craft daily. I also don’t cut corners and make sure all of my things are done correctly and nicely. I love to cook, also from my mom. I used to make my kids matching clothes when they were little, actually using my mom’s machine! She was a strong woman but loving. Everyone loved her and she was helpful to everyone no matter what. My mother worked with my father most of my younger life and then she worked as a teacher’s aide in elementary school up until she passed away. She was 50. She detested lying and sneaking around and had no tolerance for being nasty to one another. I am really like her in this way too.
My dad was a hard worker. He would tell stories about sticking gum on the end of a stick to get the coins out of gutters in Brooklyn as a kid. He also ran deliveries for shop owners to get money for movies and treats. He sold insurance (home, auto) and was a real estate broker. When my father wasn’t at the office he was either in the yard or in his favorite chair. He read the paper every day from front to back. He had a garden that is probably as big as the footprint of my present home (which is fairly small at only 1200+ square feet). He grew everything you can imagine and my sister and I would grab our wagon and pick vegetables so we could walk up and down the street selling them. He never said a word, but I can imagine he would have liked some of his own produce! I think I get my stamina from him, the get-up-early and work-until-dinner type of stamina.

What things I see now that my dad and I have almost exactly alike: 1. some of our physical issues – so now I wonder if he has psoriatic arthritis that never got diagnosed. 2. Our mannerisms when we are sitting and waiting for something or someone. Not fidgety but there is noticeable body language. 3. His sense of humor. 4. How he blows his nose (I wasn’t going to add it but it’s almost uncanny). 5. Problems swallowing – we both always feel like we have something in our throats.