Hey, Good Looking!

From left to right: Harry Reed (Peter's father), Jack Reed (Peter's uncle), and Henry Horace Reed (Peter's paternal grandfather)

It is funny how genes work. A couple of weeks ago, Harry and I were talking about family resemblances. I remarked (like everyone does, even strangers we come across on our outings) that Phillip is a clone of Peter and that Peter looks like Harry. I added that there is no denying that Peter and Tanya are siblings because they both take after Harry and could be fraternal twins. To me, they are pure Reed. Lynn, however, reminds me of their mother and appears all Hoffman, not a speck of Reed in her. Donna is a mixture. I can't quite say which parent she looks more like as she has features from both sides. Me, I am all Krause. I don't have one physical feature from my mother's side of the family.

Anyway, Harry, who is usually tight-lipped about his upbringing in England, casually commented, "Peter is the spitting image of my father." Since we did not have pictures of Peter's grandfather, I asked some relatives if they could send me one via a scanned attachment. Well, imagine our surprise when Katie opened her birthday card from Tracy Lawrence and family,and out fell the photo seen above! (BTW, each time I see an image of Tracy, I think I am looking at Tanya. Those genes at work again. wink)

Looking at the picture, my jaw dropped. It is like I was looking at Phillip from another era! I made a mental note that I must quickly - scratch that; immediately- schedule a portrait session so that I could capture three generations of Reed men: Harry, Peter, and Phillip. When I post it, you will notice that it is like looking at the same man from different stages of life.

On a related note, Katie was so thrilled that Eliza wrote her a note. And, it came complete with a card of pink and purple sparkly princess fairies magically making pink glitter cupcakes. What could be better! After I explained who Tracy, Neil, Eliza, and Harry were to Katie, she immediately started making plans to have Eliza over for tea and strawberries. "I am going to make purple valentine hearts for Eliza with pink roses. Pink roses for Eliza. She will say, 'Oh, how beautiful' and I will play princess with her. We will play catch with my pink ball. Come on, Mommy, get Eliza for me." Second mental note, take Katie to England sometime soon.

Physical features are something, aren't they? And, they last through generations. Henry Horace to Harry to Peter to Phillip to..... The fun part, though, is seeing the personality and heart and soul develop as that is the most important feature.