Memory Monday: Family Facial Traits Across the Generations

my sister and my mother

FAMILY FACIAL TRAITS ACROSS THE GENERATIONS

I have always found it interesting how family looks pass from generation to generation, sometimes passing from one generation to the next, sometimes skipping several generations and suddenly showing up again.

I noticed this when my son grew first grew his beard. The hair on his face, though thick and black, grew along his jaw lines on both sides of his face. No matter how long he had the beard, it stayed like that. It also looked just like the picture of my mother’s Mennonite ancestors, so I figured it was just part of his “genes.” That was until I received a picture of my father’s grandfather (who was never a Mennonite). They had the same beardline (I don’t know if there is such a word, but it fits). When I showed it to my son, he stood in front of the bathroom mirror—looking at himself, then at the picture, then back at himself.

I also was surprised when I went through my mother’s pictures after she passed away. I found two that really surprised me. I guess because I don’t notice facial features as much as I should (a writer need to take note of what her characters look like, but that is one of my weak spots), I never realized how much my older sister and my mother looked alike when they were younger. Below are the pictures I’m talking about. What I noticed when I first saw these two picture was the same tilt of the head, the same smile, the same chin.

my mother

my sister

When I told my daughter that I was going to blog about how much my mother’s picture looked like my sister, she said just like she and I look alike. (Sorry, I had to take a moment and look at the family pictures that line our hall just to make sure of what I am going to write next.) And she is so right—same chin, same cheekbones, although she has my mother’s smile, while my son has mine—funny, I’d never noticed that before. I may have to go back and carefully examine the pictures I have of my ancestors. Maybe, I find some others who have my smile. By the way, my son is also the only one in our immediate family who has brown eyes—you have to go back to his grandfather to find those.
Who do you look like? Which of your facial characteristics have been handed down across the generations? Hairline? Shape of your smile? Earlobes? Eye color?