Full circle

In December I used some money I got from my family as a gift to participate in the National Geographic “Genographic” project. I sent off a swab of my cheek cells to have my Y chromosome tested. I just got the results back the other day. No big surprises — I’m a mamber of Haplogroup R1b, which is the most common haplogroup in Scotland (where I’m from).

But what is more interesting is that my family’s journey begins, as does that of all human beings alive on the planet today, in or around Ethiopia, where last spring my wife and I adopted Maia. So over the last 60,000 years or so my family has migrated in a large loop from Ethiopia, up to Scotland, and in my case over to the US. And then we’ve headed back to Ethiopia to adopt. I guess that means Maia took a shortcut!

One Response to “Full circle”

1. Not Afraid To Use It says:

   August 20, 2008 at 1:38 am

   What an interesting project, and I love your perspective on it. I cannot believe how much your sweet daughter has grown. She is just beautiful, and parenthood obviously suits you well.