Unrelated, related

It's been an excellent day. Unrelated, tonight my thoughts return to this awe-inducing piece of science: as we know, the majority of assigned at birth females have two X-choromosomes in their cells, while the majority of assigned at birth males have one X-chomosome and one Y-chromosome in each cell. (minus reproductive cells.) 

In the double X biology, in each cell one of the X-chromosomes (mostly) switches off. Which one, that seems to be random. A consequence of this is a fascinating mixing of inherited characteristics in each double X-ed individual.
Meanwhile, each XY-individual has inherited one X-chromosome from their biological XX-parent. That will be half of the X-c.s the XX-parent posses themselves. Which means, they will have inherited an "exact" X-c. from either of their grandmothers! Which is often noticeable in the XY person within the family, as there will be shared characteristics, both visible and otherwise.

I'm not going to lie, things like this feel exciting to me, and there are many reasons to this. I really cherish the connections between generations, probably because of my own Mummi who was (still is) so important in my life. And for the close relationships between generations, I witness in close friends and family. 

The scientific field of genetics has revealed to us amongst other, that we still carry ancient, almost beyond ancient material in our genes. (both from human and non-human sources) 

Certain features can be followed across times and over geographic distances. This isn't, and shouldn't be seen as, basis for racism or any other kind of hierarchies. Any such ideological construction would fall when the realities of continuous ebb and flow of humans and the inherent mixing of our lineages are grasped. 

What can be appreciated tho, are the plethora of gifts we receive in our every cell from those that moved through this earth before us. The precise angle of hips that makes one swift on two legs! The extra cells inside eyes that make sharp definitions of colors! Colorblindness that makes it easier to see depth at dusk! A steady disposition that makes a great teacher, parent and partner! A restless mind that pushes into experimentation! Sharp cheekbones able to house strong muscles for chewing tough food. A smile that curves the same way, a voice resembling sister's, mother's, grandmother's, great-grandmother's voice –singing and conserving and evolving the songs our forebears sang.

So much of us is old, and shared by ones long gone. So much of us will stay here even when we are long forgotten.

Thinking about this now Bertolt Brecht's songs for Baal come to my mind. There are so many layers of time nesting inside of them: the ancients who served a god named Baal; Brecht's contemporary times; the summer a girl was laying on grass, seeing that one cloud just for a moment before it vanished; Baal remembering her and that cloud in that moment of her youth; the future birth of a lover; the year David Bowie recorded the songs; that era in my life when I first heard the songs; every cycle of finding the songs and forgetting them and then finding them again, that I have lived through and will live through; the span of a human life; the time that god(s) look(s) at (whether that's a literal thing in the universe or something we humans dream up); the time a cloud exists on a summer sky.

Amongst all the above there lived a girl, a woman, once, who is no more. What she did and experienced are the same things or experiences any one could live through. That millions have done in very much the same way, looked very much the same doing it, reacted approximately the same. Yet, she was alive. Yet, she is alive. And no one is exactly the same, has never been exactly the same, and... in the future might be exactly the same, but hey, why? So, probably nobody will ever be exactly the same. Again: yet. Yet, there is a kindredness to her that makes so we know: she's family.

Here's a link to a recording of David Bowie singing Bertolt Brecht's Baal in 1982.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1zNNf0w

I ask that any ignorance regarding genetics in my text here will be commented on gently and with references to where at I can find more accurate information (about genetics). I wrote this during one sitting and did minimal editing. Instead of a Text, this is part of a casual conversation, or maybe rather a train of thought forming like a little white cloud on a sunny sky. From my heart to your ear, over a cup of black tea on a Sunday. Coffee, if you prefer.