Twins

Twins run strongly in my family. Not so strongly that there’s a set in every house, but strong enough to be note worthy. My dad’s a twin. I have twin cousins. My brother has two sets of twins. So there you have it. I, on the other hand, do not have twins. I also am not a twin to another human. So you might find it interesting to know that for what it’s worth, I can’t stop being accused of having one. Growing up, me and one of my brothers were mistaken for twins quite frequently. He is less than two years younger than me so it can be understood. Of course, I’m not around him enough to be compared anymore. With two brothers on opposite ends of the country and one who doesn’t even have the same hair color as me, why oh why would I be called a twin? One word. Mandy. For some reason, people keep mistaking us as twins. And what’s funny is that the accusations have become ever increasing as the years go by. They say that married couples live together for so long that they eventually begin to look alike. Mandy and I have been friends since the 5th grade and consistently hang around one another so perhaps this is becoming true of us. There are similarities for which you would have to be blind to miss. Both of us have the same red hair…same length as well these days. We consistently seem to wear the same color combo of clothes…purely unintentionally of course. And we have an uncanny ability to finish each others sentences when talking to other people. And heck...our kids refer to us as Aunts. Come to think of it…it is a bit odd, isn’t it? We’re not related. Seriously…our gene pools could not be more different…on several levels. But as you can easily see the similarities are uncanny.

Same hair color (I'm older-obvious by my white streaks) and same sense of style. Very fashionable. And may I just add, the same genuinely beautiful skin tone and overall beauty.

Same body type. Though you can probably tell that Mandy works out more. (Looser loin cloth.)

Ah, heck. we even have the same pathetically corny and slightly immature sense of humor.

So as you can so obviously see...people can't help but to compare us. What made me make note of such an obscure point? I found it strange that in the span of three hours two weekends back, three total strangers asked us if we were twins. Not just sisters. Twins. It makes me laugh. They are always so amazed to find out that we aren’t even related. Seriously though, we don’t see it. I think from now on we should just go with it and make a game out of it. I’ve always been a fan of witty comebacks. Next time someone asks, I’ll nod and say, “Yup. She got all the looks and I got all the brains.” (Just kidding Mandy...you got the brains too.)

Now you must understand that the hilarity of this situation goes further. One night Mandy said, "That's it! I'm chopping off all of my hair! Then no one can call us twins!" Sooo...fast forward to the Great Sleep over with her kids. She comes waltzing up to my door to pick up the kids with a full-on make over. Ten inches of her hair...gone! Mighty fine hair cut, if I do say so myself. Pierced ears and lookin' pretty doggone snazzy! I, in my run down jeans and holey shirt with hair slopped back in a rough pony-tail and bags under my eyes from watching four little tornadoes for 32 hours, stared back and said, "Twins, no more!" We went out for the first time together not three days later to Wal-Mart to do our shopping. One of the workers looked at us and said, "Are you two sisters?"

Priceless. Guess next time one of us need to just shave our heads. "Not it!"