She was joking, right? Since you think it was funny, I assume so...
I think she meant it, but in a friendly way to let me know she didn't think DS's challenging personality is pathological. More like a reminder that intense gifted kids often grow up into intense gifted adults who go on to have intense gifted kids. She knows me from a specific professional setting where those characteristics are a positive (I work with a lot of quirky intense passionate opinionated wonderful people, many of whom were identified as GT as kids, and many of whom still exhibit quite a few OEs).
I think I wanted to share the story because so many times on this forum I hear parents discovering or remembering things about themselves along the way as they think about their child. Also, I think a lot of characteristics that make kids challenging can sometimes serve them well as an adults; sometimes it is reassuring to remember that.