31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 12: Looks and Personalities

Day 12: Looks and Personalities

I am the oldest of five children in my family, and I always thought we looked pretty different from one another. I used to call us a "sitcom" family, because, like the actors in a sitcom family, we didn't really resemble each other that much.

Me with my parents and siblings, 1997

My mom has brown eyes and very dark, thick hair, while my dad has blue eyes and light, thin hair.  My brothers, sister, and I all have brown eyes, but our hair color varies.  My hair is brown with a very slight tinge of red in it.  My sister's hair is much lighter than mine or my brothers' hair and her skin is fairer.  I inherited my mom's yellow-toned skin, which is nice because I don't burn in the sun as easily as my dad does.  I am taller than average at 5'8" and two of my brothers are around 6 feet, which is much taller than my dad.  My other brother is only about as tall as me, so he lost out on the tall gene.

My personality is very much more like my dad's than my mom's.  I am an introvert and like spending time alone.  I also have a shorter temper, much like him, though I'm working on that.

Me with my siblings, 2007 (I am pregnant here.)

As far as my kids, I think my son looks more like my husband and my daughter looks more like me.  My husband has blue eyes, fair skin and dark hair, although as a kid his hair was pretty light.  He is also about the same height as me. (My mother-in-law is pretty short.)  My son has blue eyes and, just over the past year, I've noticed that his skin freckles after being out in the sun, which is similar to what happens to my husband.  My daughter has brown eyes, like me and her facial features are more like mine.  Her hair is darker than my son's, and it will probably get even darker as she grows older.  I have a feeling, though, that my daughter has inherited my mother-in-law's 'short' gene because she is not as tall as my son was at this age.  My kids' personalities are very similar - stubborn, persistent, and outgoing.  They definitely got the stubbornness from me, but my husband and I joke about the outgoing part, because we were both pretty shy when we were kids.  That gene must have skipped a generation!

Me with my husband, son, and daughter, October 2013