Mendel and all that…
by cindy
I grew up with five siblings. Given that my mother had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and my father had lighter brown hair and blue eyes, it was endlessly fascinating to me that my siblings and I varied so greatly in our coloring. Of the six, one has very blond hair and blue eyes. Two have dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. The remaining three of us are of the mongrel variety: brownish-blondish hair and green-ish hazel-ish eyes. Do note that all this mention of hair color refers to our younger years. Most of us are decidedly gray now, Clairol-ed or not, Becky.
We each developed similar personalities along the way. Most of us have pretty sharp senses of humor. (Thank you, Mom.) All of us have the vocabularies of sailors. (Thank you, Dad.) I supposed those traits are not truly genetic, but then, what do I know? Math? Science? Not much of a student in either. Still, those genetically-related differences that fascinated me as a young girl continue to intrigue me today.
When I sit around the dinner table with my children, my children-in-law, and my grandchildren, I love observing how genetics have played with us. Mixing in the genes of the in-laws simply adds to the fun. On occasion, we talk about such things and try to determine who got what from whom. With the strides that science and technology have made in the field of genetics, it is important to know what predispositions may be passed along from generation to generation. From my parents and grandparents, I seem to be a veritable mother-load of goodies: bunions and blood clots, pick-a-cancer and replace-a-joint, add a dash of attention deficit with a generous helping of TMDD (total math disaster disorder) and the medical history list goes on and on. And on. No matter. We are who we are and are simply happy to be.
However, children, while I take full credit, responsibility, or blame for that multitude of genetic possibilities, this, THIS, is the deep end of your gene pool:
Oh, yes it is.
Oh, yes he did.
Proof positive that your father is every bit as special. Good luck with those grandkids!
Wow! How long have you known about that little tidbit?? Impressive!!
Hmmm. Probably since day 12 of our marriage. And just so you know, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Really. Oy.
so, he waited til you were already married, huh?!
No, his mother did. I think she hoped I’d toss him back. Hmmm……..
OMG! I’m so jealous! Why couldn’t I find someone who ate a lightbulb???
Oh, and by the way, CINDY, my hair color is NOT clairol. It’s a magical mixture of fairy dust and younglites that becomes a marvelous shade of blue with the texture of toothpaste. It’s MAGIC, dammit!
uh huh. we’ll investigate that little fairy tale further…
Your husband was famous back in his Dundalk days. If memory serves, wasn’t there another news article about some antic of his that knocked the neighborhood out of power?