As I suspected, I could clearly see where her genes were passed on to me and make general assumptions about what my dad passed on to me. But that would have been boring and nothing in my life is ever boring. So instead of just telling me what I thought I knew, my mother's results added a totally new ethnicity into the mix! She apparently is 10% Irish! Imagine everyone's surprise. My results showed not even a hint at any Irish ancestry. That DNA wasn't passed down to me. Its one of the funny things about conception, all the genes are not split evenly 50/50. My mother was shocked and delighted (she has always loved St. Patrick's Day). As for fitting in with family lore, there had always been a curiosity around the light skin and blue eyes that speckle the Laboy family and now it seems there may be an explanation. My abuela's results are now the hot ticket!
When looking at physical characterisitcs it is always fascinating to see how a large nose or red hair, a birthmark or blue eyes will pop out in a generation far removed from the origination. My eyes are hazel, both my parents' brown, both of my abuela's green, and several of my bisabuelos had blue. Imagine my surprise when my son came out with stunning blue eyes. Genes are a funny thing indeed.