jewelisms

jewel September 29th, 2009

This past weekend, I traveled to Minneapolis, MN and I got to spend some much overdue time with my mom and all my siblings. It was a fantastic time and I cannot express just how glad I am that all of us finally worked seeing one another into our busy schedules (all at the same time!). We talked and ate and ate and ate and played some pool and some Rock Band and even some Wii Bowling (which our mom kicked our collective butts in, I might add – Go Mom!).

We found that even though we are pretty different from one another and have been apart for many many years, we have many similarities with each other. For instance, our sense of humor – we are all absolute smart asses. Also, we are all basically introverts and tend to be shy in unfamiliar situations.

I’ve always known, however, I was the “different” one in many respects (not all of which are genetic, but interesting none the less) – I’m not musically inclined, while the rest are; I’m atheist, while the rest aren’t; my hair is straight, while the rest have curly hair. But that’s not all. It turns out that which thumb is on top when you clasp your hands together is genetic and there I am the different one, too. Of me, my five siblings and our mom, I’m the only one whose right thumb rests on top of my left when my hands are clasped together. The rest are left over right.

From what I can find out, the left-over-right is the dominate configuration meaning most people clasp their hands with the left thumb over their right thumb. Us right-over-lefts are in the minority. The Heredity Project is one of the many websites I found that illustrate it. According to that site, Mom must have both the “L” and the “r” (since “L” is dominant, I’ve put it in upper case) and she passed the “r” to me. My dad could have been either an “Lr” or an “rr” and he passed an “r” to me as well. He’s no longer alive, so I am unable to find out if he’s a lefty or a righty.

There are three possible combination’s: “LL”, “Lr” and “rr”. If you have the “L” at all, you will likely have your left thumb over your right when you clasp your hands together. There are a super small number of people that don’t really have a dominant thumb and those folks will use either configuration. For the rest of us, clasping our hands in the opposite manner than our norm feels quite unnatural and strange. Go ahead, try it yourself — clasp your hands without thinking about it. Are you a lefty or a righty? Now clasp your hands the opposite way — feels weird, doesn’t it.

Anyway, I am back to the normal grind now. I hope we all manage to get together again before too many years pass.

• family , people , personal , travel
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