Gametes In Love

Have you ever imagined what your child will look like? Which features they would have and whom they’ll look like?

I had hoped for G to have light eyes, my dark hair, S’ skin tone and my sense of humor.

What did we get?

S’ lighter hair, my brown eyes, my skin tone and it’s too early to make a call on personality… other than he insists on things his way.

I suppose this is one of the exciting parts of having children. Adopted or born into a family you never know what you’re going to get.

I also get a kick out of hearing people express who G looks like. At first I thought G looked a lot like S. Same little beak-face and long eyes.

vs.

Now, most are in agreement that G looks like me. As proof, my mom brought a bunch of pictures of me as a kid. I’ll admit there really are a lot of similarities, but what struck me isn’t so much the facial features, as much as it is the mannerisms. It’s strange to say that I see mannerisms in a photo, but I can. The way he holds his toys, the nom-nom face when putting said toys in mouth… Proof:

Hey, if nothing else, we get some reassurance that the lab didn’t mess up.

There are also areas of his development that my mom says are very similar too. She confirmed that I hated tummy time too and never crawled. To make up for it though I started walking at 8.5 months. To be honest, as proud as I am of my early achievements, the idea that G could just get up and walk away in a month is a little scary to me. I’m not ready for a walker! I’m just enjoying G sitting up, and he’s not even doing that 100% on his own yet. I’m happy. right now. freeze frame.

So yeah, it’s interesting to see who G takes after as he grows.

P.S. My mom told me that as a child I looked a lot like my father when he was little. If G in turn looks like me, does that mean that he will look like his grandpa as he gets older? Wait… does that mean I’ll be sprouting a thick beard too?

No, my calendar is not a week off. Bulgaria, being primarily an Orthodox Christian country celebrates Easter based on the Julian calendar, while most Western-based churches celebrate on the Gregorian based calendar. Occasionally they sync-up, but they’re off most years based on their lunar calculations. Anyway, point is: today is MY Easter!

Growing up, we colored eggs (which was my favorite) and enjoyed Easter bread. We didn’t have egg hunts, an Easter bunny or Easter baskets, which is a little sad because I would have loved a whole ‘nother chocolaty feast holiday. We did have a game we played with our eggs though — each family member picked their own colored egg and we would take turns trying to break each other’s eggs with our own. The person with the last egg standing was the winner — mostly of bragging rights. Looking back on it, they were kind of a looser, because everyone got to eat their egg except for them.

I didn’t attend Easter services until I moved to the U.S. Looking back, it’s strange for a country to celebrate a purely religious holiday with every aspect of religion yanked out of it. However, this holiday is actually my most favorite church attendance day, and the only day I have an urge to go. I don’t know if it’s the midnight mass and the sight of the congregation circling the church holding candles, or finding people that share the same memories and traditions as me — there’s just something really special about it. It will be a long while before G is old enough to stay up to go so I can take him, but I wonder if he’ll feel about it the same way I do. Somehow I doubt it, because my immigrant experience won’t translate the same way. He will get to benefit from the best of both worlds though: egg hunts with friends; bread and eggs wars with my parents; an Easter basket from mom and dad. Lucky kid!

Hristos Voskrese!