Identity

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Allie looked through the photo album slowly, not in any rush to get to the empty pages. She always enjoyed looking at the photographs of her mother, grandmother, the few ones of her grandfather, and the childhood ones of her wonderful Uncle Nathan, before he became her amazing Dad.

Looking through pictures of her mother at her own age, she had started seeing the resemblance between herself and her mother. She loved looking through these, almost like seeing a glimpse into her future. The photographs progressed as life did, and there were now pictures of baby Allie. She paused a good while on her favorite. Her mother was holding her, eyeing the camera sweetly while her lips rested on Allie's head. The happiness in her mother's eyes usually brought tears to Allie's, but today her emotions were so elated that all she could feel was happiness and gratitude for her amazing mother. Though only a few memories survived in her mind, the ones she had she held close. Her favorite one was sitting on her mother's lap, reading books together. She figured that was when she started her love of reading.

She flipped the page to see her second favorite photograph. Grandma had managed to capture a wonderful moment of her and Nathan at her mother's funeral. She could remember how bright red that serge coat had appeared the first time she saw it. It was too bad the photograph couldn't capture that vibrant color. That day had been full of opposites; her sadness over her mother's death against the laughter Grandma had been able to draw from her. Her excitement to go with her uncle on adventures throughout the country, but fear to leave everything she knew behind. The bright red of the serge versus the dull black of her dress. Allie couldn't remember why her Grandma had insisted on the picture, but she was glad now to have this reminder, as sad as it was. With age, she had come to recognize how important even the sad moments were in her life.

There was a large gap in time between that photograph and the next. She smiled at the picture of her Dad and her in front of their perfect Christmas tree, their first Christmas in Hope Valley. If she had been able to see the future, she wouldn't have let Nathan even think about taking them away from Hope Valley. She couldn't imagine her life being any better than it was now. No inspector position in Union City was worth giving up all the happiness she had now.

She was almost to the back of the album now, but she had to pause on one more photo, the one they had taken during Elizabeth's last birthday dinner. She loved seeing the smiling faces of all her family, even before they were officially her family.

Having come to the end of the album, she carefully pulled out the new pictures that had just been developed. She loved seeing her parents smiling the widest she had ever seen on their wedding day, hardly able to keep their eyes off one another. Her dad truly had never been happier in all the time she had known him. She was awed by how blessed she was, to get a dad who taught her strength, integrity, courage, and so much more. And to have a mother, no longer just a teacher. She had already taught Allie how to not only succeed in school, but also how to make and be a friend, how to deal with emotions that seemed too big to handle, and generally how to succeed in life.

Allie then placed the photo of the four of them, her family, next to the other. She remembered the softness of the silk bridesmaid's dress she had worn that day. The beautiful blue of the dress didn't come through the photograph, but she had it hanging in her closet to look at whenever she wanted.

As Allie closed the photo album, she thought how all she had, all she was, was shaped by these wonderful people in her life. She was a daughter, a sister, a friend. She was smart, talented, driven, blessed with inner and outer beauty. She was Allie Grant.

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