I found this from my great aunt Hilda while rummaging about for my next sweater name. She was big on thank you notes, sometimes even thanking us for a thank you note we had sent to her – that admittedly made us smile. The year was 1983 and by this time Hilda resided in an assisted living facility. Predating the internet, her letters to us were her lifeline and Marlene reciprocated. I'm grateful for that. This thank you from her was sent in response to shared photos of our recent Easter that year. M kept Hilda in the loop about family news, particularly about my daughter Juliet, then just 2 1/2 years old and changing daily.
Reading through, Hilda's handwriting is warmly familiar and I can hear her voice. As a retired librarian she wrote well. I find I even enjoy how it looks visually on the folded page – most definitely a futile plea for reviving this disappearing letter writing practice.
This exerpt got my attention.
In the picture that shows Juliet alone she has a totally different expression from any others that I've seen. In fact it's an expression I have just recently seen on the face of your cousin Martha McKee (Arnold's daughter). And what's more, Walter made the same observation before I did (an independent thought for each of us). That expression we first saw on the face of our mother, Juliet's great great grandmother!
As background – Hilda, Arnold, and Walter (mentioned above) and my grandmother Mildred were siblings. It was in the face of my baby girl that both Hilda and Walter had found a familiar look, one that they had seen before in their own mother Martha, 4 generations before my girl. How delightful that in Juliet's exponentially enhanced gene pool, Martha revealed herself to us this way.
Will my grandchildren's children's children find me in a sideways glance? It's fun to think about. Frankly, I'm planning to be there, in one form or another, whether they know it or not.
I Know That Look – my next sweater design – coming soon.
Update: I Know That Look, my latest knit design, published 8/13/2018.