You look just like...

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We have all heard it. Our grandmother's might think we look a lot like our father's, or our aunt's might claim we look just like our mother's. Sometimes we look nothing like our parents, but everything like a relative we may have never met. "You are the spitting image of" those are words I have heard a lot in my life. "When you laugh like that you remind me of." is another thing I have heard, though not necessarily directed at me. Tonight I am looking at an image of a man that I believe to be related to me, albeit distantly. He would be a grandfather five generations back, and I look at him and see a family resemblance. His face is much more narrow than the face of any of my relatives today, but I can see in his sunken eyes and his strong chin, the visage of my father. There is another photo, but this one sits on a stack of books in the room next to me. I personally know the people within this photo, and I can see the very strong resemblance these people have to their own children. The picture makes me smile when I look at it,and it has my heart swelling with love and pride for the happiness I see within that photograph. There is yet another photo, though I am not sure where it is located now. The people within are unknown to us, though they may very well be family. They are themselves a family, as it appears a mother and father stand in the center of three children, the youngest of which is barely a year old. There is a grain sack at the foot of the middle child, and the group of people look tired but happy. The photo we have is a copy of the original, and it has been blown up to give more detail. The image is grainy from age and distortion as the original was smaller than a wallet portrait. Their blood may not run through my veins but I feel a connection to them through the centuries. A connection just as strong as the one I feel for that man with the strong chin and sunken eyes.