Reflections of me...

This is a pretty shot of a dead calm lake in Europe. I couldn't resist capturing the mirrored reflection of the sky and clouds in the lakes' surface.

On my Tray of Bliss today is a reminder to take time to reflect on who I am this Christmas.

My husband and children keep asking me 'What do you want for Christmas'.

I keep saying 'I want you around the table'...and they don't believe me.

But, I am honestly pressed to think of anything else. Oh, sorry, there's that little Alfa Romeo, and the second home in the French countryside, but maybe that's in my 'next' life.

I looked in the mirror this morning, and I saw both my Mother and my Father. Mum, mostly around the eyes and mouth, Dad in the shape of my face and the curl of my hair. Not the exact replica seen in Nature as evidenced by my photography. But a hint of my parents in the turn of my smile and the crinkle of my eyes.

But, is that who I am...a mere reflection, a sort of watered down image of Mum and Dad?

Not really....my reflection throws questions at me, more so as I approach the end of another year of my life, than at any other time.

I am an artist, yet I do not look like one...I look like everyones' Mum. I am a singer, but I don't sound like one..I sound like a yowelling dog. I am a writer, yet unpublished, apart from this blog. I am a Mother, Wife, Sister, Friend. Some days I am good at all of these things and some days I fail dismally at each and every one.

Sometimes I am so happy I could explode, and some days my shame and remorse for both real, and imagined wrongdoings in my past, makes me cringe.

Then I look at my faces of my sons and their wives, my daughter , my grandson, and my husband. They look back at me with warmth and affection, no matter my foibles. They love me permanently, freely, and unconditionally. I do the same for them.

That is the true reflection of me.

What's on your Tray of Bliss today?