When you notice a quirk a student has, you wonder if it belongs exclusively to your student or if they picked that up from his/her parents. You wonder if the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, in other words.
As I enjoyed my family this weekend, I thought about that expression again. My grandmother's sister, her husband, and their daughter came up to see my grandfather. They stayed at our house, our first overnight guests. It was great fun.
My great-aunt is very like my grandmother, and for just a little while, it wasn't hard to imagine that she was here again. There's always lots of family buzzing about, especially when there is out of town family to see, so it seemed as though Nonnie was there, on the fringes. Perhaps just in the other room. It was so tempting to go from room to room, looking for her.
My cousin is a sweet, gentle blend of my aunt and uncle. My mother spent many happy hours as a girl with Martha and it's not hard for them to conjure up those memories, no matter how long the time has passed between visits.
Each time my family gets together, no matter how many of us there are, it reminds me what a miracle we are. My grandparents and my great-aunt and uncle raised wonderful children, who had wonderful children who continue that tradition. We had such strong, excellent examples to follow. My grandparents were married over 60 years. My grandpa still has Nonnie's picture from the 1940s in his wallet. My great aunt and uncle are working on 69 years married. Not many stories like that any more.
And I am willingly an apple from that tree.
Beautifully written!!!
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