OK, so maybe it wasn’t the most romantic gift idea ever. And maybe it was more a present for me than for her.
But I had to give it a shot.
I called my wife a little while ago on this Cyber Monday and mentioned that she hadn’t told me what she wanted for Christmas. She replied that I hadn’t told her what I wanted for Christmas.
After a little back-and-forth about that, I said, Not that this is a related question or anything, but have you ever… thought about having your DNA done?
“I knew it!” she said. She, too, had seen the ads that said there was a special deal ending today: $59 for an Ancestry DNA kit, instead of the usual $99. “You want me to spit into a tube!”
See, I’ve been working pretty hard on her family tree as well as my own. And I’ve had some real success. For instance, one of her great-grandfathers had been kind of a dead end for her, as he died young far from his family. But I’ve managed not only to find his parents, but to carry his line back another five generations before that, back to Germany (we knew the name as Smith, but it was originally Schmidt).
Which is pretty cool, right? And with the data that a DNA analysis would provide, the sky would be the limit! Right?
What an exciting present! At least, I thought so.
She’s thinking about it. She’s probably also wondering what it is in my DNA that makes me this way…
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How legitimate is this thing? Is it like the family crest scam from years ago?
What you need to do is get it for two of your kids and see if they come back identical.
Oh, it’s legit.
Ancestry provides a page where you can look and see who’s closely related to you, among other people who’ve done the test. And it lists them in order of how close they are to you.
For awhile, two of my first cousins who are also into genealogy showed up as closest to me, followed by some third cousins, etc.
Then my uncle did it, and next time I look, he’s at the top of the list. Then my mom did it, and she shows up ahead of him.
Another bit of evidence: The plurality of my ancestors lived in Western Europe going back thousands of years. (The rest were from Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe.)
The majority of my mother’s DNA comes from Britain, with Western Europe a distant second. Which tells me that if my Dad did it, he’d be overwhelmingly Western Europe, with less British.
You might think this is random, but my uncle’s ethnic breakdown is almost identical to my mother’s — his sister’s. Just as it should be…
ultimate in narcissism waste of spit
Hey if you haven’t done it yet – Amazon has it onsale today for even cheaper – like $54. My husband and I are giving them to each other for Christmas. I ordered them yesterday. He texted me today that he found this Amazon deal. Harumph!
My daughter wanted to check her ancestry DNA, but there was a 2for1 sale at 123&Me last week, so she bought two and is giving them to the wife and I for Xmas. What we are, she is.
23 and me still has that deal today for cyber monday.