We are family!

About a year ago I received an email from a female "stranger" who wanted to know about my trip to Guinea Bissau West Africa.  She was interested in my feedback because she had traced her mtDNA and discovered that she also has ancestral ties to Guinea Bissau.  She was thinking of planning a trip.  The fact that she has ancestral ties to Guinea Bissau was very interesting because it is a very small country (1.5 million people) and only a small percentage of African Americans can trace their ancestry back to that country.

So, of course I was delighted to share.

However, the most exciting part was that she also lives in the Bay Area, only a few miles from me. We talked on the phone and then we met in person. We found that we have lots of other things in common as well.

She joined our weekly meetings and is now a good friend of mine who will be making the relocation to Costa Rica with us (and joining us on our exploratory trip in March)!

About:

Mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA, which is passed down from a mother to her children shows that all people living today shared a common female ancestor who lived in Africa over 100,000 years ago.  She is often termed the “Mitochondrial Eve”.

Oh, and did you know???

People may unsuspectingly choose friends who have some DNA sequences in common with them

Researchers compared gene variations between nearly 2,000 people who were not biologically related, and found that friends had more gene variations in common than strangers.

Today I celebrate
Verdette 

Fabulous  Fashionable  Friend 
over Fifty

Friends are the family you choose!!