Hesitant, Hopeful

I mentioned once that Matt was adopted. Because it was a closed adoption, he doesn't have any information about his birth parents. He doesn't know what he is or what he's predisposed to. For as long as we've been together, it's been a bit of a running joke him not knowing what his heritage is. He would tell me that not knowing was a good thing, it meant he could choose which one he wanted on any given day and would never be wrong. Maybe he'd be Italian, or Hungarian, or German. He has no idea and has always had a very good sense of humor about it.

For Christmas this year, I decided we should settle it once and for all. As one of his gifts, I got him an Ancestry DNA kit. I gave it to him early so he could send it in, mostly because I'm impatient. I want to know what he is. Almost 20 years of suspense is killing me! He did the swab and sent it in. This thing is supposed to take almost 2 months to come back. It only took less than one month and shortly after Christmas, he got his results.

Turns out he is almost 100% from the UK. England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Just a tiny, tiny, tiny less than 1% German. I won't lie, I'm a little bit shocked. I've always thought it was likely that he was at least a little bit Italian. Nope. Not at all. But what's amazing about this thing is that it shows him the migration of his ancestors from Europe, all the way across to the East coast, then south, and finally to the middle of Texas.

This is pretty impressive because he was born in Fort Worth, TX (at Edna Gladney). This DNA test shows his family's migration to the very place he was born. What's also neat about this thing is that it can connect you to people who share your DNA. This means for him that he may be able to connect with his birth family. He may already have started doing just that. Best $50 I ever spent.