Roots

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Something about my pale complexion, reddish-brown hair and abundant freckles tells me I'm Irish. My parents honestly don't have a clue. That's upsetting because roots are important, aren't they? What if I come down with some initially inexplicable disease that can only be cured upon intense scrutiny of my family's history? I'm screwed I guess.

Be that as it may, scientific advances are being made in DNA genealogy that blow my mind. There are actually companies out there that can locate your ancestral origins by testing your DNA. Family Tree DNA is one of them. The company was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. On that episode, a black woman from New York, Vy Higgensen, discovered she was genetically linked to Marion West, a white cattle rancher from Missouri. Crazy. What excites me about this is that the possibilities for connection and learning are so wide open. My fascination with connections can probably best be illustrated by my need to waste hours reading about other people's "missed connections" on craigslist. If you've never looked at this, please do. It's romance and heartache and joy and possibility all rolled into one little link.

Well, here's hoping I'm a descendant of an Irish Poet or Russian Czar. Odds are I'm not, but I'll never know unless I take that journey. Needles and blood make me sweat, however, so I think I'll begin searching for my ancestors through ancestry.com or another such site. Until then, raise a brew (preferably dyed green) and make a toast in honor of those from which you came. Salud!