The link to my daughter's art site, www.GraceGoad.com, popped up as I typed it into a Facebook message to someone. I stopped and looked at her fresh face and then I looked at my own staring back at me in my Facebook profile. If you're a parent, ever notice how so often we can't seem to see the "us' in "them" that others can so readily see? It sure is that way with me. It seems to happen in stores often. We'll approach a counter and a clerk will rave about how much we favor or, proclaim that we've just gotta be mother and daughter! I just smile knowing that I can't exactly see what they see….
Every now and then I get glimpses of her that elicit memories of me captured in childhood black-and-whites. (Yeah, that long ago. It was only about 1967, seven years into my life, that I recall the images being in color.) Other times, I happen to walk toward a mirror and stop, noticing a trace of my daughter's face. It's so much easier for me to see her in the face of her aunt, or her paternal grandmother. Sometimes it's even difficult to see the face of her father within her own. But, these. These pictures of us two, my personal page profile picture from Facebook and the one from "GraceArt," I totally get it. I can tell: she's mine.
What do you think?
Mother's Day has come and gone but I'm celebrating it all month long here on "The Journey with Grace" with mom-centric posts at least once weekly. Enjoy. And: Thanks to all who came out yesterday for Grace's third spring art show. It was a tremendous success. The exhibit hangs through end end of May 30.
Photo credits: Massood Taj, taken November, 2011, the debut of our book, From Heartache to Hope: Middle Tennessee Families Living with Autism. He caught me crossing the room with a stack of bags for book buyers. Grace photo by book collaborator and special needs certified photographer Rebekah Pope.
