When people who know my mother meet me for the first time they usually say the same thing:" oh, you have your mother's eyes!"
and it's true. I do. Mom has the strangest color eyes...they are the most peculiar shade of green/gold. They change color with her mood, or what she's wearing, or depending on what the lighting is. It used to bother me, I'd not look people in the eye for fear they'd see the weird color.
I think of them a little differently now. Whenever I look in a mirror...I see her eyes staring back at me. It comforts me somewhat, because I know I'll always have something of her within me. I wonder if I will see the world the way she did. I wonder if I would have the courage to do the things she's had to do. I like to think she sees things just a little bit differently than anyone else on the planet. I like that.
These eyes are a family trait. My son has them as does my daughter. In fact a few months ago my daughter and I were heading on a road trip to visit my mom. We stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank on our way out of town. I was paying at the cash register and the attendant looked me in the eye. "You're Caitlin's mom...aren't you?" I laughed at him and said that I was and asked him how he knew.
"she has your eyes."
