I love a good joke. I am the queen of sarcasm, the mistress of puns, and the lady of laughter.
But some jokes? After awhile, they get old. There’s no ill will when people make these quips. They are innocent enough, but when you hear it from multiple people over the span of several years, complete with a wink and a nudge, they get old.
Let me back up a second and explain myself. You see, my younger son is what we like to refer to as “proof recessive genes are alive and well.” My husband and I are both brown-eyed and have dark brown hair (well, that’s my natural color at least). My older son has brown eyes and light brown hair. Our younger son has beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair. He also has the most adorable dimples which the three of us do not have.
Any guesses where I’m going with this?
Let’s put it this way: people love to jest the he “must have been from the mailman” when they see my son. It was funny th
e first couple times. Like I said, I can take a joke (and be prepared that most times I’ll rib you right back). But 5+ years later I’m silently trying to hold in knee jerk reaction to eye roll myself into eternity. Instead, I find myself explaining how genetics work, partially because I find it incredibly fascinating and partially because I really hope it will help bring this nonsense to an end.
In case you are as captivated as me, my husband’s mother has blue eyes and so does his sister. But because blue eyes are a recessive gene, I also carried the gene as well. We only know of one of my great grandparents to have blue eyes meaning blue eyes go a few generations back. My grandmother had hoped she’d have a blue-eyed child (it was her father that had blue eyes). It never happened. Her hope renewed for grandchildren (all brown-eyed), then great-grandchildren. Turns out she had to wait for her very last great grandchild, my son, to have blue eyes. They had the great honor of being in each other’s lives for a little over 2 years before she passed. She was pretty proud that she could say those blue eyes of my son’s came, in part, from her father.
The dimples? My mom has dimples. And the blonde hair? My mother, my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law were all blonde as children but not as adults. That being said, I’m expecting his hair will darken up, although, maybe it won’t! But it is common for children to get darker hair as they get older.
Let me just say we are far from offended. We just wish people would give it a rest. Our son is becoming more aware of the fact he looks just a little different, as he asked me recently why he has blue eyes and we don’t. I tried explaining, on a five year old level, why he looks a little different while reminding him how special his blue eyes, wavy blonde hair and dimples are. So remember, even if not to prevent me from getting annoyed, if you are thinking of making some sort of quip about the FedEx dude, that little ears are listening. Those little ears shouldn’t think his unique-to-our-family features aren’t any less special than they are.
Also, maybe it’s just time to find a new joke.
