DNA is the basic building block of life. It determines essentially every physical characteristic we, and every other creature, exhibit. It makes us short or tall, blond or brunette, big feet or small feet. These are typical physical differences we expect.
Sometimes DNA rewires a signal and creates a trait that is very, very specific and unexpected. In my maternal grandmother's line, it is The Ear.
My great-great-grandfather Otto Dork is our earliest known carrier of The Ear. It is a left ear that, unfortunately, sticks out. I know: he's my Dork with a big ear.
It skipped his children. It also skipped my grandmother and her sister. I don't have it, nor do my siblings or nieces or nephews.
My mom has it. And so does my son.
Behold: The Ear.
*Faces blurred to protect the living...and the inn-ear-cent.
I am on this crazy quest for more family history through DNA. Sometimes the really interesting DNA doesn't come from a lab test, but is visible in family itself.
Do you have a unique family trait you see throughout generations?
© 2015 Sally Knudsen
