Is Blood Thicker?
They say blood is thicker than water. When? When it’s swirling down the drain? Not sure on the likelihood that blood would clog your pipes, but I suppose that makes sense. But that would be an uncomfortable call to your plumber trying to explain the coagulated red stuff gunking up your bathtub drain.
But what about the phenomenon of blood or DNA being thick, tight, bonding? Is it really? Because I’ve known an awful lot of folks who don’t feel so cuddly about their relatives. The DNA in our bones doesn’t bind us in an emotional way, does it? It comes in handy if you need a transplant though. So, there is that about staying close to family members — you never know when you’re going to need a kidney.
I think about my legacy in this life with no blood offspring to carry on my gene pool. I’m not so vain to feel I need to have any mini-me’s walking around for decades after I’m gone. It’s not like we aren’t all going to end up as cosmic dust anyway. But I do feel a sense of being untethered. Of floating. With nothing to hold me down from just gliding away, like a lost mylar balloon on a windy day. Without any true blood children and grandchildren, does that mean I’m alone?
I have daughters and grandchildren that aren’t biologically mine. But I claim them as mine since I’ve put in the work. I’m fairly sure I’ve logged the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours rule needed to master something. Not that I’ve mastered parenting or grandparenting — because I don’t think that’s possible. But I’ve been around — and I’ve done the time. And will continue to do so.
I think that the whole blood thing may be something that makes for a dramatic movie script — a Mafia story, where family trumps all, even if you hate each other. The connection and ties that we form from our early days and throughout our lives is a lot more complex than just a certificate of birth. We meet people, we are drawn to like-minded souls and repelled by those who don’t share our values, our whole lives. Many of us grow up in a family we never would’ve chosen. We look around and think, wow, who are these people? I don’t really like brother Jimmy or Aunt Susan. If things were different, I wouldn’t hang out with these folks very much. That’s why many of us create our family of friends — people that truly feel more blood than true blood.
What does it say about the power of DNA and family dynamics — that we leave the Thanksgiving dinner table angry every year — because someone rubs us the wrong way. It tells me, that connection and love and respect aren’t something you are born with — it’s something that’s cultivated and cared for.
If we leave the planet and take all our blood with us, and left no trace of our cells behind, does that make a life any less significant or real?
No. It just means that you can take your turkey sandwich home from Thanksgiving and enjoy it in peace.
