In Others’ Words: Twins

Me and my twin sister, Brenda, at 3 1/2 years old

 

“There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared: Twins.” ~Josh Billings (1818-1885), American humorist

I am a twin.

I tend to forget that, while I know this — hey, I’ve been a twin all of my life! — lots of people who know me don’t know that I have a twin sister.

Let me state up front that I am a fraternal twin. This means that my sister and I don’t look alike. At. All. I mean, we are both female … and that’s about it. Growing up, we had a difficult time convincing people that we were sisters, much less twins. So we never got to do any of those “let’s switch places and pretend to be each other for the day” kind of things you read about.

A few facts:

I am four minutes older than my twin sister, Brenda. (We didn’t give our poor mother much of a breather, did we?)
We were six weeks premature. And, like the quote says, my parents weren’t prepared for twins. They had an 18-month-old at home — and no idea my mother was pregnant with twins!
I weighed in at about 4 lbs and my sister was less than that. We wore baby doll clothes.
My sister  spent a month in the hospital. When the hospital said my dad had to pay the bill in full before he could take me home ( I went home after a week), the story goes that he told them, ” I can’t pay the bill in full. You can keep them.” And then walked away. Yes, the billing department worked something out.
We were dressed alike when we were younger — same outfits, different colors. I didn’t wear red until I was 30 because that was my sister’s color.

Another favorite twin story is the time we locked my mother out of the house and unloaded all the kitchen cabinets while she banged on the back door for us to let her in. We were toddlers at the time. I don’t recall my brother being involved … and I also don’t recall what happened once my mom got inside.

 

Me & my siblings: My twin sister is standing next to me wearing the purple dress

 

 

In Your Words: Did you guess which one I was in the black and white photo? Any twins reading this blog? I’d love to hear some of your stories! Or if you have a relative that’s a twin or a friend that’s a twin … please join the conversation.

Don’t forget: Go here to take part my Beach Bag Giveaway! Leave a comment sharing a Best, Worst and/or Funniest Romantic Moment Contest for a chance to win:

a beach bag with a beach towel,
a copy of Wish You Were Here (which USAToday.comcalled a “ fun novel (which) has “beach read” written all over it.”)
a $50 Visa gift card (for you to enjoy a romantic dinner at your favorite restaurant with your sweetheart.)

Contest ends June 16th!