In The Abstract

Contrast Essay

In many families, they say that the apple never falls far from the tree. "Like mother, like daughter", they say. My mother and I are both women, and by that, we have a lot in common, but boy are we different. I can't think of one person who differs from me the most, aside from my sister, but that's beside the point.

My mother got good grades, and graduated high school. She has a stable job, and a stable household. She has a happy family and the full train of pets to go with it. She's a happy person. I didn't get very good grades in school because I refused to do my homework (until my senior year). I was bored stiff. I knew all this stuff. Why did I need to do my homework? I have a job at Wal-mart, and a pet fish, a betta, named Llewellyn. But... I'm not a happy person. My mother and I are so different. We look different, act different, and even love different. We’re two big knots in a tangled ball of yarn.

See, there are a few things that my mother and I really don't have in common, and one of those things, is our ability to nurture. Don't get me wrong, my mom did a great job in ensuring that I had food, and clothing, and a roof over my head, but she's not so good at the loving; the hugs and kisses part. She's a great provider, and I know she loves me with all her heart, but I definitely didn't get my heart from her. I love to take care of the people I love, making sure they have Band-Aids, and warm sweaters and blankets, and I always worry my socks off into oblivion. During a great deal of my childhood, I walked to school in a snowstorm, and had to scramble all around the house to find a Band-Aid. Sometimes my mom overlooked those things, but she always made sure we had medicine for when we got sick- plenty of Luden's cough drops those are the best, and anise (licorice plant extract), to put in our hot tea.

Another difference my mother and I have is our interests. My mother likes to go out with friends, and sit at a bar. She's also a smoker and drinks a glass of wine every night, for a healthy heart. She works most of the time, so I never really see her much. We both like to read, I know that for sure, but I'm into music, and she... isn't. I like to play music and write music, and just be the music, but my mom is so passive about it all. I also like art, but I haven't once seen her pick up a paint brush or a camera. She used to draw when I was little, but I haven't seen any of that lately. I don't like to drink, and I definitely don't like my job, and I hate cigarettes. She told me once, that if she could do anything in the whole world, if she didn't have kids, she would take pictures of animals in the Outback. When she said that, she reminded me a lot of myself. I love animals, and I love photography, but I also love having family, and it seems to me that sometimes she resents that.

The biggest difference, that my mother and I really have, is our looks. I don't think I look anything like my mom, at all. Sometimes people say we are alike, but I don't see it. I have dark, straight, ash brown hair, and she has dirty blonde curly hair. I'm short, about 5'4", and she's tall, at 5'9". I have smaller breasts, and straighter, squarer teeth, and my skin is very pale, while hers is pinkish, and tans very easily. Our faces! Our faces are completely different! She has very thin lips, while mine are fuller, and her nose is long and pointed, while mine is rounder, and buttoned; but we both have terrible pores.

Through all of these differences, there is so much in common. We are more different than we are similar, but sometimes it's hard for me to think that way. Though we are on the same train, we're on opposite sides of the track.

posted by Kasey @ 11/07/2005 11:09:00 AM