Nephew

My sister just sent me an email with photo's of her son, whom I've never seen. (He's like 4 or 5 years old so this tells you how close my sister and I are.)

On the DNA gradient scale, my sister has very dark hair and very dark eyes. Her coloring is straight out of my dad's Native American gene pool. I, the second child, the middle of psychological development AND mom & pop's coloring, have lighter brown eyes and lighter brown hair. When I was younger, even till my early 20's, my hair was more red than brown. Cody, the 3rd child and only boy has my mothers complete European color. Creamy white skin, cotton blond hair, and Prussian blue eyes.

Color aside, we all three look exactly like my mom AND dad who don't look like each other.

My sister now has three children. Two daughters almost grown, and then the little boy. Same gender set up as our family. Her oldest daughter looks just like my sister (her mom) and just like me. The second daughter is a equal mix of her mom and dad. So, I was kind of expecting her younger boy to look more like my brother.

And then I opened the photo document. And the boy looks just like my sister and me! dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, same every thing! It really kind of threw me for a curve ball. I don't know why, but that is just not what I imagined her boy to look like, and it's not what I imagine my future children to look like, but I think there is strong evidence that they will. And that's not really jiving with the fantasy life I've concocted all these years...

Ducks

I had a not-so-great day today. Sometimes, when I have those days, the bike commute home clears my head and I get home happier and more relaxed. Sometimes though, the extra exertion raises my blood pressure and I get caught inside my head, having destructive conversations with myself. Today was that day and by the time I got to my street I could feel my face distorted in the pre-storm of big fat tears.

As I pulled up on to the side walk of my complex I saw a mottled brown mamma duck with three little ducklings walking through the sprinklers. Those little fuzzy ducks playing in the water zapped any bad thought right out of my head!

I don't know why I love animals so much but I just do!