Even if it's just that she's wearing socks with a pink polka dot on them and I'm wearing a shirt with a pink stripe in it, she's quick to call it! She loves to tell me that our hair is samesies when we're both sporting pony tails; that the palms of ours hands and soles of our feet are samesies because they're all peachy-coloured; that the way we hold our forks is samesies. She wishes that our skin colour was samesies, but is content for now that we both have black eye lashes and longish earlobes and big tummies made for cuddling.
On Friday afternoon, someone else made a samesies kinda comment about Lizzie and me.
I was at the grocery store, doing a big shop. Matthew was at his art class, and I had Seth and Lizzie with me. We were standing at the seafood counter, waiting for our salmon fillets to be seasoned, when the woman waiting next to me smiled at me. She gestured towards the kids.
"Cute kids," she said.
"Thanks," I answered.
"Are they yours?" she asked.
"Yup," I answered. "All mine."
"I thought so," she said. I looked at her and raised my eyebrows, wondering why she'd think that.
She pointed to Lizzie. "She looks so much like you."
Huh? I think my jaw dropped. Really. She was dead serious, looking straight at me. I stared at her for a moment and, rather unusually, didn't know exactly what to say. Around me I could feel people looking at me, then looking at Lizzie, then at the woman, then back to me.
After that very pregnant pause, I said: "Well, thank you. That's a lovely compliment, because I think my daughter is beautiful!"
"Samesies!!!" Lizzie shouted just as I spoke; she threw her arms around me and jiggled me about as she jumped up and down. "Mommy!! We're samesies!!"
"Yes, my darling. Yes, we are. Samesies," I answered. I don't know who was beaming more.
Samesies. And so we are, my daughter and I. And so we are.
Cute!
ReplyDeleteI often think adopted children look very much like their parents (or siblings) regardless of their skin colour. Must be the power of suggestion!
Love.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo! I agree, your daughter is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, most definitely "samesies" and in all of the very best ways. From your bright smiling faces to your caring ways, you're similar in so many ways that I can see and I only read your blog! That was a very smart woman who picked up on it, but I doubt she'll be the last.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, when my younger sister (who happens to be adopted) just began talking, she began to follow our mom around saying quietly "we're one and two". Well, this carried on for some time with us just thinking it was a way of ordering her life and it was kind of cute. However, one day she found the words to tell us that she meant that "the one and the two be the same", essentially both numbers, both connected, and always beside each other. Now that she and I spend so much time together she's clear that she wants to be the same as me, but we'll never be "one and two", that is for our mom and her only. They are polar opposites in terms of physical appearance, but catch them smiling at each other in a picture and anyone can see that they are very much the same. We forget how much it means to simply be the same when different seems to be screamed at every corner.
Thanks guys, for the lovely comments.
ReplyDeleteJanelle, your comment brought tears to my eyes...how beautiful...thank you for sharing that.
BLessings,
Ruth