And a lot of my early years, it seems my parents went by the old standby, the first child gets picture after picture taken of them in every outfit imaginable.  We have hundreds of pictures of me from portrait studios and cameras of every sort.  My favorite is one of me sitting in a pink outfit, with a pink bow taped to my head.  In fact you can see a scan of it here,  It's the first picture on the page.

That wasn't one of the pictures that shocked me though, I've seen that one dozens of times over the years.  There was one of a baby sitting in overalls just smiling at the camera.

I thought it was my little brother, Richie, as a child.  We pulled it out of its album and flipped it over.  It was me.  And Tre, my nephew, looks identical to it.  We thought Tre looked just like his Daddy, but it seems like he looks just like his Daddy and his Aunt Pooh at that age.  Which is really odd, as Richie and I look nothing alike now.

We continued through the pictures, finding ones that are embarassing (that Tony loved), ones that brought back a lot of memories of times in New York with all my cousins and extended family.  In between pictures of all of us kids were some very old black and white pictures.

Pictures of my one Grandma, Daddy's mom.  Susan was here name, she is where half of my first name comes from.  The one picture just shocked me.  I was looking in a mirror, a black and white one, but it was as if you transported me back 60 or 70 years.  Grandma wasn't as large as I am, but I have her face.  All of me is her, not just Daddy as I always thought.

For the first time in my life, I can feel a complete family connection between the generations.  Grandma to me to Tre, we're all the same blood, from the same line of people, there is a line there.  We are all connected not just by names, but truly by flesh and blood.

That, right there, is a strange feeling, but not in a bad way.  I'm in awe at genetics now and want to know more about where I came from.  I need to know more about my family, which may prove to be a difficult task, but a worthwhile one.
Suzy Smith