Genetics- you sly dog.  It’s something we all learn the basics of in high school. But let’s be honest, unless your career is science related, who remembers all the details?

Well, maybe I should have paid more attention, because our family is living proof of the wonders of genetics!

When I was pregnant with Asher, a huge thing on my mind was that he was healthy.  Something every mom wants.  Of course I wondered what he would look like, but overall, I wanted everything where it should be.  Ten fingers, ten toes. While every child is wonderfully made and special, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I also wanted him to be as “normal” as possible.  That may sound bad, but I’m just being real here. Life is hard enough even when you’ve got that going for you.  He was born and pronounced healthy. And he had a lot of hair.

The nurses started talking and the words “redhead” and “ginger” were flying around. I was thinking, “Excuse me- but I don’t have a redhead. My kid is not a “ginger”. They must have been talking about someone else. But as a nurse cleaned Asher up and gave him a bath, it did in fact reveal that my boy had beautiful red hair. Lots of it.

After some self- examination, my initial denial stemmed from the basic fact that Brandon and I both have dark brown hair. Oh genetics; you and your hidden agenda. And second, that the word/name “ginger” has had a negative connotation. I honestly still don’t like the name. Mama bear in me still goes active when I hear it- ready to protect my young. Pretty much forever, unless they managed to reach Opie statue, the red headed kid is not who you wanted to be since they were made fun of. (If you don’t know who Opie is, please Google him. He’s also known as Ron Howard. He kind of had a hand in shaping our society through movies.) Yet the pendulum seems to be shifting! Take look the next time you watch a movie or binge watch Netflix. Red headed actors are popping up everywhere! I digress…

Brandon and I soon realized that Asher’s hair color was the cause of a lot of attention.  A lot! Nurses and other hospital employees came from all over saying they heard there was a red headed baby. And they LOVED him! This was our first exposure to the attention (mostly all positive) that would come through the years due to Asher’s hair color. Who knew?!!

Three years later our little Maggie came along.  When she came out (I had a c-section) I asked Brandon first if she was healthy (which she was), closely followed by, “does she have red hair?”  We were 2 for 2. Man, we really should go to Vegas sometime!!

So where does the red hair come from? I know you are in serious suspense. On my side, my grandfather. Asher actually has a decent resemblance to him. On Brandon’s side, when he grows out his beard, it has a reddish tinge to it.  Otherwise, it must be distant in his family line. I wish my grandpa was alive to see Asher today. I think he’d be proud of his fellow redhead. I’m proud we were able to carry on the gene.

Do you have a story on recessive red head genes coming out after skipping generations?  Share it!

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Embrace life!