Dating Dementia

Sometimes life becomes a little overwhelming and a break is needed.  I’ve been on one of these little time-outs for the past few weeks, but I’m feeling better and will be blogging original material very soon.  In the meantime, here is a post from 2010 — when I first began blogging — that I wrote about my daughter and me.  Thanks for reading.

My daughter and I look nothing alike.  OK, we’re both on the short side and we carry our weight around our middles (sorry dear on both counts) but the physical similarities pretty much end there.

I remember taking her to mommy & me classes when she was a toddler and several times people asked me if she was adopted.  Nope, she’s mine for sure but you’d never know it from looking at the two of us.

Bella has masses of long dark curly hair, beautiful brown/green eyes and creamy skin that takes on a golden brown glow during the summer months.  My pale skin turns pink at the mere mention of sunny weather and I’ve got more of a Nordic look going on with blue eyes and blond hair (the latter with a little help from my hair dresser).  The casual observer would say that from the outside we are ying & yang or frick & frack — we simply don’t match up.

However, inside it’s a totally different story.

From a personality standpoint, we have a lot in common.  We both love history and we’ve been called “reading fools” by people who know what they are talking about.

In fact, our idea of a great day is hanging out at the library and bringing home a stack of books (after we’ve paid the fine from the books that were overdue, of course.)

We also sound alike — at least on the phone — and people have mistaken her for me and me for her, which we find truly funny because we don’t think that our voices are all that similar.  Our politics are pretty much in line, except that I’ve become a tad more conservative as I’ve aged and I now see political  issues in shades of gray rather than the more intractable viewpoint of my youthful daughter.

Bella keeps me young by introducing me to offbeat popular culture and music.  We agree on most of our movie choices, except that I love to actually GO to the movies, while Bella usually prefers watching them at home.  I’ll never get that.

We both adore Brian Williams, John Green, Broadway plays, jigsaw puzzles and almost all dogs (except the little bitty ones that resemble rats and shake in their doggie boots when you go to pet them…yuk!).

We love going out to tea and we’re each others favorite traveling companion, which is saying a lot.  I heart Jane Austen, genealogy and Harry Potter because they mean so much to Bella.  She puts up with my love of walking by giving in on occasion and going for a jaunt with me — on which she will inevitably talk about either Jane Austen, Harry Potter or complicated family genealogy.

Most importantly, Bella and I love to laugh and our sense of humor is very much alike.

There is nothing better than having a good laugh or sharing humorous situations with someone you love.  Love and laughter can get you through some pretty dark days.  So, even though we don’t look alike on the outside, my daughter and I mesh on the inside — where it really counts.

Originally Posted November 21, 2010, Reprinted With Edits

{ 4 comments }