“She looks like me!”

This has to be one of the most blissful and extraordinary things that one can experience in life; I have just become a grandparent. Due to the glories of modern technology, we get new pictures every day of our little angel. And with each shot, comes the natural urge to compare. “She has her Aunt Lizzie’s chin”. “Her nose looks more Chinese.” “Her forehead comes from Grandma’s side of the family.” “She looks most like you, Grandpa.” Ah, now you’re talking!

There is something comforting, even energizing, in knowing that our children, or our grandchildren, take after us. When anyone gets within striking distances of me these days, I have the photos ready for viewing. I even want to tell strangers. Immediately a warm smile graces their faces as well. How can anyone resist the sweetness and innocence of a newborn?

As babies grow into toddlers, and toddlers become younger children, the fascination with lookalike features may die down, but the desire for likeness does not. We see in them a reflection of ourselves. We see characteristics and traits, or behaviors. We want to pass on our values, and our beliefs. In those times when we see our weaknesses and imperfections acted out in them, we are reminded of the grave responsibility we have to be an example, to live the life of one worth following.

As they continue to mature, our hopes and dreams for them take shape. Their personalities and interests surface. Character is formed. They interact with peers and have an ever-widening circle of social networks. In all these things we still look for ourselves in our children. Their achievements become our achievement, their successes, our success, their struggles, our struggle.

Finally, our children develop skills and pursue their studies and careers. As they move on, they move out. Though interaction and intersection are less frequent, we now hear from teachers, or friends, or future spouses, words that have gripped us from those cradle days: “You know she’s a lot like you.”

From those first days in a baby’s life and through the passage of time, I have discovered something; our playful musings about their noses, eyes, and chins as newborns are actually an expression of something wholesome and profound. Something of me has been stamped on the lives of my descendents. That is both a sobering and a thrilling thought…one which I hope will not lead to embarrassment, but to those same proud, grin-filled emotions I enjoy right now as I ponder how my granddaughter “looks like me.”