Genes

Black Irish

My dad is coming up for my daughter's high school graduation in a couple of weeks. I just ordered one of those DNA testing kits, the kind where you do a cheek swab and mail it in for analysis.

I've been meaning to do this for at least a year and I keep forgetting. Both my parents are coming, but for now I'm only interested in testing my dad. For one thing, those kits are expensive, at least a hundred bucks. But the other thing is that my parents had two daughters, me and my sister. No sons. This means that some components of my dad's DNA, those that  travel only on the Y chromosome, have not been passed down.

Sure, he has brothers who have sons, and these cousins of mine no doubt share plenty of the same DNA my dad has. But what he got pure and true from his parents? Well, that will die out when he's gone.

Ever since I found this out I've been meaning to order this DNA testing kit. I started researching them on line last year. But then I kept forgetting. It's as though some part of me wants to go on blithely assuming he'll be here forever, and we can do this test any old time.

I don't see him very often. And he's had a tough time the past year. He's only (only!) 77, but he had tuberculosis when he was 19 and has fought respiratory battles ever since. He's always been in great shape, walking every day instead of hopping on the bus all those years he worked in Manhattan, lifting weights, swimming.

But his lungs fight him every step of the way. I'm a nurse. I know the drill. I know better than to take one single day for granted.

My dad is full-blooded Irish. Both his parents were immigrants here in the early 1920's, from Belfast. Yet he has black hair and dark brown eyes. Whether his "Black Irish" looks come from the Spanish Armada shipwreck myth, the ancient Irish legend of Milesians who settled Ireland from Spain, or some other long forgotten, gene-induced mystery, remains to be seen.

But I have red hair, freckles, and green/blue eyes like my mother. My kids are blue or green-eyed.

My father has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Mapping his genes may not change that. But I'd like to do it all the same.

Comments

[Jan]

You have red hair and green eyes? The only part of me that is green is the envy.

Sounds as if your dad is the benefactor of some recessive genes. I'll be interested to hear what the test reveals; I hope you tell us.

Oh - our dog's collar is covered in little tie-dye dancing bears. *rolls eyes*

[Sprite's Keeper]

Hi!
I would love to trace my dad's family background. His grandfather came over to America in the early 1900's from Russia and we know nothing else. My mother's is a little more murky since my grandfather was adopted and his roots were virtually untracable back then.
I noticed you have a dating story from May 25. Would you like to join the Spin Cycle with it? Today is the last day for the dating Spins, but it's a lot of fun and a great way to meet other bloggers. Just drop me a comment and let me know!
Have a great weekend!

[Joanie M]

Why exactly are you doing the DNA test?

I am also "Black Irish". I looked more Italian than my Italian ex-husband, although some say I have the map of Ireland on my face. I am 100% Irish decent, even though my father's family has been here since before the civil War and my mother's just about as long. I have black hair(well it USED to be) and brown eyes.

[Jenn @ Juggling Life]

My niece, after studying genetics in college, has realized that it is extremely unlikely that the person who is supposed to be her dad (her parents were teens when she was born) really is. She toys with the idea of getting a hair sample or something from him, but doesn't want to open the can of worms that might follow actually having the information.