Kids, grandkids & other relatives

At 58, I have a grown daughter and two grandkids, 12 and 4. It's weird thinking my DNA is running through their body. Traits (good and bad) from my ancestors to them. How do I know if they got the good stuff or the bad? What if one of my ancestors gets ALL my bad habits and NONE of my good ones? Okay...insert wise-ass comment here......



Physical traits are weird enough, but personality traits are what really freak me out. How does that happen? Curly locks of hair the same color as mine until good ol' MN took over and Clairol responded...My nose on the face of a 12 year old girl who has the most beautiful chocolate skin I've ever seen....My chin on BOTH of the grandkids. If I live long enough (and they wait long enough), maybe I'll see yet another generation of children with my traits.



But, the personality traits have got to be reined in. I can't have another generation of kids walking this planet with my temper or my insatiable love of little dogs or my craving for Cake Batter Batter Batter ice cream from Cold Stone...or my ability to put on 10 pounds just walking by a bakery. But, to hear their voices, their laughter and know that I had a little to do with the PERSON they are, is an amazing feeling. The blood of our ancestors, even that escaped convict back in the early 1800's, flows through my veins and theirs.

Will they have my curly hair? Will they go prematurely gray? Will they sound like a teenager even though they're nearing 60? Will they be afraid of heights? Or will they take some of my exhusband's traits? Oh, please NO! It's been more than 30 years since we were married, but some of his traits still haunt me!

How much does their environment affect them? For instance, my daughter smokes. Neither I or my second husband smoked. Her dad smokes, but he wasn't around her much. She KNEW how much I hated smoking and yet she did it behind our backs for many years. Was it a factor of her environment or peer pressure? Will my granddaughter and grandson smoke because SHE does?

My granddaughter is slim and very athletic, unlike me. My grandson is the chubby one in his family, JUST like me. My granddaughter has beautiful high cheek bones. My grandson does not. How does the gene pool work? Is it just mixed up in the petri dish of a uterus and whatever happens, happens? Or is there some grand plan by the man upstairs so that we are so diverse that sometimes people don't look related at all?

If the answer is it's His plan, then next time around, may I please have the SLIM body genes? High cheek bones would be nice, but the slim genes are enough. Honest.