So, this little guy arrived yesterday in the mail.
I’m pretty excited to find out about my ancestors. Last year around this time, I heard of this Genographic Project but didn’t have enough money for the 200.00CAD at that time. This year, I saved the funds as part of the Halloween budget to make sure I could do it as a tribute to my ancestors.
In keeping with the traditions of Samhain, honouring the dead, I’ve always been somewhat at a loss. Adoption is a wonderful, beautiful thing and if you choose to adopt, I salute you. It is not, however, a fairytale happily-ever-after for all adoptees. There will always be issues of “Where did I come from?” and “Who are my people?” and these issues can be especially compounded when the adoptive household isn’t quite a good fit. Yes, that happens. Surprise! Not everyone gets along with everyone else. Family is never without complications and challenges.
On the other hand, tracking down one’s birth parents can be tricky, emotionally volatile, and sometimes inadvisable depending on circumstances. It’s quite a difficult personal decision to make. As of yet, I’ve elected not to do so for reasons that are my own, but that choice does not satisfy my curiosity about where I fit in the grand scheme of human history.
Enter: The Genome Project! A couple cheek swabs and a bit of waiting and I can find out how my ancestors got from the Cradle of Africa to … wherever it is they went. This is especially exciting for me as a Canadian given that, provided one is not of First Nations heritage, one’s people are always from somewhere else. It’s a frequent topic of conversation when getting to know someone and I’ve never been able to answer that question honestly. I always shrug and say “I’m a mutt!” and people laugh, but it’s always left me feeling somewhat excluded.
It will be nice to finally feel a part of this big ol’ global family we call Humanity in a way I haven’t before.
Well, it’s time for me to get back to editing. Thanks for stopping by!
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