Tightly bred.

My kids look just like me.

My sister's kids look just like her.

My brother's kid looks just like him.

And they all look like each other.

No matter who our spouses are, the white trash gene pool is strong.

Also in my family the following scenario occurred:  My Dad and his brother married my Mom and her sister.  So their kids are my double cousins.  And guess what?  THEIR kids look just like mine, too.

Before zj was born, I was on bedrest for a while, and during that time I became addicted to the show Jon & Kate Plus 8.  At that time she was not yet a skank ho evil bitch a celebrity, and I thought (and still do) that Jon looked an awful lot like RJ.  Good thing looks are only skin deep, huh?

So I was convinced that my kid was going to look like all the little Gosselin children.  In all their cute Asian-ness.  With their slightly slanted dark eyes, and olive skin and dark hair.  I was going to be the one who had different-looking kids.

I was sure of it.

After all, Asian features are usually quite dominant, right?

Wrong.

When zj was born, his hair was darkish, but his eyes were (and still are) round and bright blue.  CJ's eyes aren't blue, but they sure aren't brown either.  And they are quite round as well.

When RJ's mother saw zj for the first time, she said, and I quote: "Eyes so round.  So blue. Such shame." Then she made that tsk-tsking noise through her teeth to make sure I was well aware of her disapproval of me for making a baby that was so white.

I was aware, all right.

Whatever.

Anyway, I was discussing this phenomenon with someone at work one day.  Her brother's wife is Japanese, and their baby boy looks darn well like he should, slanted eyes and all.   Oh, and as an aside, she also raises horses in her spare time.

I mentioned to her that I thought Asian characteristics were usually dominant.

"Well, that's true." she said.  "Maybe your gene pool is tightly bred."

This was not a phrase I was familiar with.

"Tightly bred?"

"Oh.  You have dominant traits." She laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"But what does 'tightly bred' really mean?"  I was curious.

"Well, it means that there is a lot of the same family characteristics that get passed on and the dominant traits...  insert very good and very technical explanation here."


I finally got it.

"Oh, what you're trying to say, quite nicely, is that my traits are dominant because my family tree doesn't branch so much?"

Yeah, I got it all right.