Ever since I sent my spit off to Ancestry, I’ve been like a little kid who has sent in his cereal box tops, waiting for my secret decoder ring.
And the time frame involved is reminiscent of the days when I was a little kid — they say it can take 6-8 weeks for delivery!
For their part, Ancestry is making sure I know they haven’t forgotten me, or lost my DNA. I got an email from them today giving me a link to a page letting me track the process. Apparently, they’re working on it now. Surprisingly, this is something that actually takes time. I had figured it would be like when they test my iron level before I give platelets at the Red Cross — zip, and you’re done.
Nope. It’s way more complicated, tracking hundreds of thousands of… what do they call them?… single nucleotide polymorphisms. To put it in technical terms, the lady on this video says my DNA is being subjected to a “pretty complicated and really snazzy test.”
So now I understand.
Anyway, I can hardly wait…
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Speaking of which…
A couple of nights ago, I started again trying to watch “The Tudors.” I quit watching it before — a couple of times — because of the softcore-porn approach of the show. According to this program, folks in the Tudor court were all between 20 and 30 years old, looked like underwear models, and got naked every five minutes. Which offends me intellectually as much as morally.
But since I’ve learned in recent months that I’m apparently related to a lot of those handsome, naked people, I decided to give it another try….
And… the very first person addressed by name is a direct ancestor of mine! Right after the opening sequence in which an unnamed uncle of the king is assassinated, you see two men walking down a corridor. One of them is Thomas More, and he addresses the other as “Mr. Pace…”
Well, that’s John Richard Pace, a.k.a. “Paceus,” one of my 13th-great grandfathers, according to my research. (My mother’s mother was a Pace.) By the time that first episode ended, I’d seen 5 or 6 other people from my tree.
So I guess I’ll keep watching, despite the scandalous (and largely fictional) way the show depicts my forebears…
Remember that episode of Frazier when he discovered that some trinket or other he owned had belonged to some royalty, and this researcher looked into the case? That was a good episode. 🙂