Anyone else spend their childhood weekends in unfamiliar cemeteries learning all about the lost art of grave rubbings? I spent my fantastic youth being dangled from the family tree. If I said that my family loved genealogy it would a huge understatement. We lived genealogy. Every single one of our pets is given a full name taken from the pages of a cherished ancient family bible (including the many tropical fish that lived and died in our home).
Grandmother (GM), especially, became very interested in seeing just how far back she could trace our tree. The farthest she claims to have gotten is a link connecting our line to a world-conquering emperor (hint: my dog Charlie’s full name is Charlemagne). She had a genuine sense of pride that she had found proof of bravery or intelligence or adventure in an ancestor.
But the single most exciting personal discovery for her was when she determined that we were related to a well-loved president from Virginia. Suddenly a life long question that had puzzled her had been answered. Now she knew exactly where she got her famed auburn hair (and an independence streak).
As pieces of the family history jigsaw connected our family began claiming other attributes of our ancestors: Mother claims her arty side from great-great grandmothers that were amazing painters, my oldest Uncle was bent to engineering because great-great somebody in our family had also gone into that line of work, and don’t you know I got my love for the theatre from an English ancestor that often performed for Queen Elizabeth I.
There is a family pride when it comes to accomplishments, but a few years ago our family started wondering about some of the things that aren’t listed on the lineage charts. When we learned Grandmother had Alzheimer’s we immediately thought of her Mother and her Aunt who each dealt with some form of senile dementia in their later years.
Learning the every day reality of what living with Alzheimer’s means made me hyper concerned as far as what could possibly be a genetic trait. Would my Mother become sick? Would I? Would my future child? I thought about Grandmother’s first cousin that is virtually the exact same age and sharp as a tack with no signs of dementia at all. Was she lucky? Would I be?
I began talking to Grandmother’s cousin often and asked her about other family traits. Things I once would have been able to ask Grandmother about are now no longer accessible in the vault of her mind. I remarked to Grandmother’s cousin how much I hated the heat. “Oh”, she replied. “You are just like me! I love the cold weather and detest perspiring.” I clung to the declaration as if it was scientific evidence that I would age like cousin Alice and not like my own Grandmother.
That 23andMe has created a test that would give me answers in regards to my own genetic make up is thrilling. I have always liked spoilers and often read the end of the book or demand to know the end of the movie before I see it. For some reason I have this idea that the answers will come back as some sort of personal blueprint with specific measurements for the very windows of my being. What would the blueprint say? Would it indicate that I had a firm foundation? Would it alert me to possible problems that I could then bring in experts to help treat or fix?
As I look forward to looking into the eyes of my future child I want to be able to know exactly what I am passing on. Will he get my blue eyes? Will he get the famous president’s red hair? Will he want to study history like his Great-Grandfather? Will he have something more medically extraordinary to look ahead to?
My hope is that gaining this sort of knowledge helps me prepare for what lies ahead. I also hope that it fleshes out the part of my tree that I know nothing about. In the next couple of weeks I am going to be sharing with you guys what it is like to be genotested: what I have learned, what I have not learned and what it all means. (& how YOU can get involved!)
This post, and all posts related to this experience, are sponsored by 23andMe. This is my real story.
Research breakthroughs are only possible if enough women participate by answering surveys– if you are currently pregnant or have been pregnant before please visit http://www.23andme.com/pregnancy and complete a short survey.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Dude, I am so beyond jealous that you go to do this! If I weren’t so poor ass broke I would be hawking up some spit myself.
I hope they have discovered the AWESOME gene so you can see it reflected on your report.
I read this with great interest. I may have to look into this. Would be great to learn more about what E’s genes, in particular, hold. Then again….I’m sort of afraid that I might not want to know.
I’ve often wondered about my family’s geneaology. I have a cousin a couple of months younger than me. We met once..at 2 years old. She’s always lived on the West Coast (California) and my family has always been on the East Coast (New Jersey) We’ve never even talked on the phone, but through the powers of myspace and facebook we’ve connected. It amazes me that we look identical and love/hate all the same things. We even collect the same things. I just am amazed at it. Her Mother and my Father are siblings..they are nothing alike and don’t even talk to each other.
I definitely want to order the 23andMe. I know nothing about my Maternal Grandfather’s side of the family (He left when my Mom was 3 years old).
The only thing I would caution is putting too much stock in genetics. Remember, genes express themselves within an environment; none of us exists in a vacuum. Genetics may let us know about a little bit about traits or propensities, but they are not the whole story.
It is an irony that those of us who value genealogy and genetic heritage should then conceive using a method that expressly denies our children the ability to find out about their genealogy and genetic heritage. (Or if we’ve used willing to be known donors, denied them that ability until they are 18).
One advantage of DNA testing is that male DI offspring can sometimes use it to trace their donor fathers – however anonymous they are meant to be. DNA test results are matched up on genetic genealogy sites and if there is a close match it’s likely the sirname of the person matched will be that of the donor. It only works for boys though. One fifteen year old traced his father that way about two years ago and it was written up in the New Scientist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/nov/03/genetics.news
I don’t know what you feel about tracing the biological father of your child. I’d be interested to know more about your views on DI in general, and any ambivalences/worries you may have.
Best of luck. And very, very many congratulations. Motherhood is a fantastic joy. And you are a fantastic, gifted writer.
Katty
I did grave rubbings all the time when we lived in England. I’d really like to do something like this someday. We don’t know much about our family history.
Now, please explain the post that appeared on my Google Reader this morning but has since been deleted from here. Do you wish for me to go crazy with wondering?
I hung around in cemetaries alot as a child and would sometimes do grave rubbings, but they were complete strangers. Hmmmm…. perhaps there are things better left undiscovered, such as a propensity toward dead strangers. But maybe that doesn’t show up in genes… And to quote my father, “may all your What-ifs be pleasant ones”. Love you!!!
ps- the more I re-read this the less sense it makes but I’m sending it anyway, because that’s how you know I care!
so google reader tells me you wrote something about something happening? and now it’s gone? is something happening?!
i know! is something happening? lol