R.I.P. Pop-Pop Jules

This past weekend, JP, Jenna and I made the trek to Bordentown, NJ to lay JP's grandfather to rest.  It was a whirlwind visit, and interesting for us to start making some connections about things with Jenna (we solved the mystery of the source of her blue eyes), confirmed other things (she absolutely looks like the other Jules) and learned a lot of new things.

To start things we made connections with:
Jenna did not get her blue eyes from me.  Although I added a genetic possibility to the equation, you can see here that she does not have the same blue eyes as me...

...which I have known for a while, but how do you explain that without sounding weird.  While we were up there I noticed that Jenna's blues are more like her cousin, Devynn, as seen here...


...and in further discussion with Linda (JP's mom), it was confirmed that Jenna has his father' eyes - or Cole eyes, which is what I have suspected all along. 

Further, I have said since the day of her birth that Jenna looks like her cousin, Jules.  As you can see in the picture above, and below, there is no denying this fact!



Kimmie confirmed this further when she brought a photo album from Pop-Pop's house that had pictures of Jules when she was a baby and a toddler.  Even in pictures, it is easy to see that Jenna even has the same mannerisms that Jules did then. 


Another thing I discovered this weekend was that JP does look like the Cole family, too.  I have many pictures of JP with his sister and his mom, and they all look just alike.  They smile the same way, make the same faces, hold their heads the same way...they have the same mouth, nose and chin.  That boy is a Borocz through and through.  He is almost a dead ringer for his Pop-Pop Jules, save for Pop-Pop had a narrower face. 

But then I looked at this picture...


...and where do I start?  First, here are the people listed in order from left to right...Kimmie, Rosemarie, JP, Jenna, Roseanne, Rosita, and Tristan.  Rosemarie and Rosita are twins (fraternal, not identical) and Roseanne is their sister.  These are their father's sisters on the Cole side.  Tristan is Rosita's daughter.  Follow all of that.  Now, referring back to the picture....no doubt that Kim looks like Rosemarie (which I have heard but didn't see until now)...JP has the same bone structure through the cheeks as Roseanne (which, from what I can gather, best resembled his father) and he has the same smile as Rosita.  Damn.  That boy is a Cole through and through, too.  How interesting is that?!

Ok.  It may not be all that interesting to you, but it is fascinating to me.  Especially since I have always thought he was a Pop-Pop Borocz incarnate. 

Which brings me on to other family look-a-likes.  For example, his nephew Nik hands down looks like JP did at his age, and like Pop-Pop Jules did at his age, too.  And seeing pictures of Pop-Pop as a teenager made me realize how much Devynne favors him, too.  But we also realized that Devynn has JP's dad's eyes.  We put a picture of him from his Naval Academy roster up to Dev's face and there was no difference.  She has her Pop-Pop Cole's eyes, no doubt.  Jenna has the color of his eyes, but she has the structure of Jules' (niece Jules, not Pop-Pop), which are big doe eyes.  I always thought that JP and Kimmie has the Borocz smile, and that it came from Pop-Pop, but Kimmie no doubt has their Nana Borocz's smile.  She had a huge, electric smile - just like Kim.  There are pictures of her from when her and Pop-Pop were our age and they just take your breath away.

I could go on and on...some of the pieces are just coming together for me as I type this, and others will come together as time unfolds.  One thing that is apparent is that the way our genetics mold together is a fascinating and dumbfounding process.  I am sure there geneticists who would argue with this statement, but just on a daily human level, I am in awe. 

I can't wait to see who Jenna looks like over time.  And just like it is with me, she sometimes looks just like JP and other times just like me.  I say that because people see me with my Dad and they say I look just like him and then they see me with my Mom and say the same thing.  I thought that JP's features were more cut and dry than that, but obviously I was wrong.    I guess time will tell.

Pop-Pop Borocz was a very well-liked and well-respected man.  That was very obvious this weekend, as people came to pay their respects.  It's the natural consequence of a loss of life to look around and evaluate where your life is and what impact it has on the world.  And sometimes it is easy to think you have less of an impact that you do, as people sometimes focus on the external things, but the impact that leaves the true lasting impression is that one that is with those closest to you.  Pop-Pop definitely made that impression, and who he was and what he stood for meant a lot to those around him.  And his legacy is that which is seen not only in the facial structure of his grandchildren, but also in the way they treat their world due to the lessons that have been passed on from him, and those before him.  Godspeed Pop-Pop.   Save a place for us at the table.



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