Thanks, Mom! Your Pre-Christmas Holiday Gift Finally Has Results. I Do Have DNA after all

30% Frog, 12% Pee Wee Herman, 20% Gryffindor, 8% Orc, 18% Extraterrestrial and 12% Muppet. I secretly hoped for a superhero connection - particularly a slight connection to Wakanda - but no such luck. I'm all fantasy, in my head, odd, and well-intentioned with my DNA.

Okay, that's not true.

My genetic results finally came in and I have to say, "I'm not that impressed by the way they deliver the information. It's really, really vague." They say, however, that you can get more details with the additional information that you provide them as you "build your family tree." AND, I have to admit, it is sort of interesting to get an outline of the ol' bloodline (that I share with my sisters - LOVE YOU BOTH).

The first thing I did when the results came in was peruse a page of people with the most solid genetic matches to our own. "DANG! We are an ugly people!" It is interesting, however, to see the migration of our bloodline from home countries to the United States, justifying an early ancestry to the U.S. in the northeast region, and an eventual migration to the West. So many last names share our DNA! It's weird.

Here's the TRUTH, though, Cynde and Casey. We do have ancestry, and although we are most definitely ethnic mutts (our people like to mix stories between the sheets I guess), we are not as much of a hodgepodge as I anticipated (okay, so maybe we are - it's just different from what I anticipated).

Three of the regions of our ancestry we've named over and over again in our self-declaration of who we are as Crandall kids from Amalfi Drive (because of Kenneth and Vera Crandall, and  Ann and Spencer Ripley). We are German, Irish/Welsh/Scottish, and Ukranian. The German side we knew....it's why we took the language in high school and Casey won a German cookie contest with a non-German cookie back in a language fair in high school.

I did anticipated more Ireland/Scotland/Wales in our bloodline (but it was only 19%), the same as the Ukraine. We carry a lot of Ripley, but that Ripley isn't as Irish as we thought.

The most surprising part of these results, I believe, are the connections to Denmark and Norway. We've never ever claimed northern Europe, the Nordic countries, but next to Germany (Kilts - 35%), our Danish/Norwegian ancestry is not too shabby (17%). We didn't that and now I think we need to rethink a series of family vacations in the future . I guess it also makes my travel back and forth to Denmark all those years more meaningful (I want to know more and am wondering what the Danish/Norwegian last names once were and when those bloodlines merged with Ukranian, Irish, Scottish, and German blood). Fascinating.

As for Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Finland & Russia....who knew? It's only 6% of our bloodline, but it is there. Our German selves really did get around to mate with the rest of the region. It might also be why mom likes baklava like she does.

It's kind of interesting, actually, and now I want to know more! What's intriguing, however, are the conversations these results will elicit at the breakfast table of my sisters (mom & dad) this morning. Butch and Sue can argue, "Well, the Portuguese definitely comes from my loins and I will tell you why."

Dang! Denmark! Can we redo the World Cup? I might switch the teams I was rooting for!