It is in the Genes

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof." A quote of Richard Bach in his novel "Illusions-the adventures of a reluctant Messiah"(he is also the author of Jonathan Livingstone seagull).

How true this is. There are relatives who feel like strangers and friends who feel like family members.

Though it is intriguing to meet “strangers” who are relatives in the 5th – 6th degree but who share the same “habit” genes. This is what we noticed during the visit of Greet and Luuk.
My mother and I can be very down to earth, we don’t get upset easily, often see the funny side of things. Don’t misunderstand me, we can be profound but we very seldom spend energy on unnecessary things. This is also the fact with some of my cousins, children of Nel Best-Hartog (<- Spits <- Plekker). The way we reply to questions is also one of those habits. And it was interesting to see this confirmed by Luuk. This intrigues me. You can see where some habits come from when you live close to your relatives but meeting one you never saw before but recognizing certain behaviours is just great. It also made me realize it is a pity I never knew my great grandparents. I still remember my grandmother Klazina Hartog-Spits (<- Plekker) well and know I look and act like her. My grandmother who I loved to bits, looked like her mother Wilhelmina Spits-Plekker so obviously great grandmother and I would have got along well.

I love to listen to stories about her told by my mother who was 21 when her grandmother passed away. Grandmother Wilhelmina loved having her grand children around her and taught them knitting. They all had their own knitting projects in a big rattan basket which is still in use by me. The grand children loved their grandma and gathered in her house as soon as they were off school on the Wednesday afternoon.

We are lucky to have a few family films from 1941 with my great grandparents walking or busy in their house. Great grandmother Wilhelmina was not an average person. Where others were quite static on the film, she walked with firm steps, her coat waving, hat slightly oblique on her head, one arm hooked in great grandfather’s arm, waving an smiling at the filmmaker.

I know she can’t see me but I smiled and waved back: “Hello grandmother, it is you I inherited the big steps from…”