So when 23andMe offered $99 DNA kits late last year, I decided I had waited long enough and ordered one. The kit arrived in mid-December and I let it sit for a few days. I opened the kit, registered, and sent in my sample. The expected turnaround was 2-3 weeks. I received an email asking for my patience, as the holiday backlog was forcing a delay in results. I finally received my email that... drumroll... the results were in!
After logging in, I still needed patience as some of the results took longer - like actual matches! Not a problem. In another week, I settled in to explore the final results. And they were not at all surprising as I know a good deal about all the branches of my family.
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| www.23andme.com |
I am 99.7% European. Shocked, I tell ya. Part of that is some Eastern European thrown into the DNA mixer by my Prussian-descended grandma, who is almost 95. She's on the left, in case you have a hard time telling us apart ;)
I also learned my maternal haplogroup is:
U5a2b
Solid with my knowledge that I was researching up the right trees, I ventured around the site a little more. Honestly, I was not at all sure what to expect. Armed with these mtDNA results and a lot of research on my maternal lines, I do hope to find matches. I suppose the site is like a topic-specific social media site - people join but you don't know who you might find. Yet.
Postives:
Nice graphical results
Lists of possible cousins
Fun DNA surveys
Negatives:
Share everything to make connections
Few people reply
And my biggest negative is that I was hoping it showed me more. I read articles and blogs about connections and 'I share x % of DNA with this distant cousin,' and 'y strand of DNA matches this person so we confirm our relationship.' Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm not getting that warm fuzzy connected feeling. I am analytical - I want to see data. No doubt, being able to even perform this test is amazing, but I want to know more.
Next step - talk my dad into taking a test for those elusive paternal Irish lines!
What are your experiences with testing? Have you made unexpected matches? Any tips for me, like I really missed something on the website? Do you match me (crosses fingers!)?
Maybe I will learn that patience is inherited.
© 2013 Sally Knudsen
