News from Shakes Manor

Last night, Mr. Shakes and I went over to my parents’ for dinner, and my mom remembered a story from a trip we took to New York to visit her parents when I was a wee thing that prompted her to drag out an old photo album. I’m sure Mr. Shakes has seen these photos no fewer than a thousand times, but in the way one is always fascinated from any slice of a loved one’s life that took place before a fateful meeting, he looked at them once again.

As he and my mom flipped through the pages, he gave a running commentary on my “wee baw heed, perfectly roond” and my “cheeky face, exactly the same; ye canny have changed a bit!” as my mom peppered his monologue with, “Look how cute she was!” And then Mr. Shakes burst out in laughter.

Shakes: What?

Mr. Shakes: Look at this one!

Shakes: What?

Mama Shakes: Ohmigod, hahahaha. What a face!

Mr. Shakes: What a face!

Shakes: Let me see it.

Mr. Shakes: How oold was she here?

Mama Shakes: Two years. She always sat in that booster chair on the floor, like it was her own little chair. So serious.

Shakes: Come on!

Mr. Shakes: That expression! Hahahaha.

Mama Shakes: I know, hahahaha.

Mr. Shakes: Lookit, she’s making the same face right noo! Hahahaha.

I finally grabbed the book and looked at the picture. And yes, I was indeed making precisely the same face.