The shallow end of the gene pool

[rareboy]

I often say that next time around I plan on picking less medically complex parents and ancestors....

But we probably all have them.

I intend on having antecedents with prodigious cocks and an almost neanderthal need to use it...instead of a neanderthal holdover that is likely the reason for hypoercoagulability and a past and future centred around it. Or male pattern baldness. Or a maternal side metabolic rate that converts carbs to pounds by just reading recipes. Or osteoporosis. Or cancer...although since I am my mother's son, and since I don't have ovaries...It will be a crapshoot.

Not to pry....but with all we know about nature versus nurture and bloodlines now...what are some of the things you wish you could trade away and what are the things you are most grateful to have inherited?

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

Well ! This isn't quite what I was expecting when I saw the title of this thread; I was thinking that this was going to be for sharing stories of Darwin Award winners.

But this is certainly more interesting.

I intend on having antecedents with prodigious cocks and an almost neanderthal need to use it

I hope you also intend to inherit homosexuality; we wouldn't want you to be reincarnated as a rapist ...


I would like to trade away the propensity for various kinds of mishegas that I inherited from both my parents, particularly the propensity for certain kinds of fear that I inherited from my mother, as well as the potential for heart disease I got from her (nothing serious yet, thank heaven).

I am grateful to have inherited the brains I got from both sides, the musical ear from my father's mother, the friendly nature and good humor my mother had when she wasn't losing her temper (for instance, my friends when I was growing up were quite fond of her), and her love for and way with animals.

I am grateful not to have inherited my father's huge selfish streak or the temper both my parents and (especially) my mother's mother had.


I was going to say that I'm grateful not to have inherited my father's arrogance, but I did, and my mother put real effort into teaching me to contain it. (Negative reinforcement from peers helped, too, and I'm lucky to have gotten it.)

For instance, my mother stressed to me over and over that, throughout my life, I would encounter people who had authority or some sort of power over me who weren't as smart as I was*, and I had to learn not to alienate those people or my life would be much unhappier than it had to be. (My fraternal twin brother, who stayed with my father after the divorce, was not taught that by my father, and it has caused him unnecessary trouble for his entire adult life.)


* In real life, it's not just people who aren't as smart as I am, of course: it's also people who are smarter than I am and I might not want to admit it or to accept what they have to say. But my mother knew that that part was unlikely to sink in with a teenage boy, which is why she took the angle she did.

 

[rareboy]

I love the way your mother was thinking.

I didn't even get into the behavioural traits.

My mother was Dutch. And Dutch women don't fucking take anything.

And on my Dad's side, there was a saying in our family...'Never cross an **** because it is 7 years to forgiveness."

And yeah...I def would want to be a homo again. And again. Just without some of the congenital issues.

I am working at home this afternoon, because I am such pain from a back problem that goes right to bone mineral density and osteoporosis.

And it will never get permanently better.

 

[backagain]

The heart problems and the cancer. Got of a bit of both. Both ok.
As one of my friends said to me once, I see where you come from... You have your mothers sensitivity and your fathers sense of humor. I love it.

 

[cabinfever]

From my Dad I have the ability to see the whole picture and all the smallest details at once and I have come to appreciate that very much where it used to annoy me.

From my Mom I got the empath thing though I use it much differently than she did.

 

[EJMichaels]

I’m grateful for the youthful good looks from both sides, especially my mother’s side, and the intellectual characteristics of my father’s side. He was both intelligent and valued knowing things. I have osteoporosis from my mother’s side, but my grandmother lived to over 100 and didn’t have a problem with a broken bone until about 101. Most of the maternal side of the family has generally good health – nothing bad that I know of that runs in the family (except osteoporosis). On my father’s side, there is too little data – no sibling, and very few aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. His side tended to have professional careers instead of raising families.

The many things I don’t like about my mother’s personality are a major factor in why I never wanted to have children. I look and sound like her and was concerned I wouldn’t know a way to raise my kids that differed much from what she did. My father was awesome, but I don't know if he contributed much to what I absorbed about parenting.

For those who don't know, I should mention that I'm a mostly lesbian-oriented (but at least technically bi) cisgender woman.

 

[Vannie]

Patience.
Love.
Fellowship.
Empathy.
Sharing.
Strength.

I'm not sure I have anything to trade away. Worry maybe. I tend to worry about other people. Nephews Nieces family and friends.