Romancing the Genres: twins

I grew up the daughter of an identical twin. Needless to say, living with a twin wreaked havoc, in hilarious ways, for my sister, cousin, and me. From the time we were small, none of us could tell out daddies apart. We’d point and look at the others for confirmation, “Is that your daddy or mine?” We finally figured out that although both had sandy-blond hair, my uncle had a penny-sized patch of white hair in the back of his head. So, each time we got together, we three girls would circle back behind “the boys” and point. “That’s your daddy, and this one is mine.”

My uncle on the left and my dad on the right. Notice the similarity in their outfits?

Obviously not Christmas or they'd both have on their red holiday vests and bright ties.

The day I was born, my parents moved out of an apartment into a new house. My uncle helped them move. When Mom went into labor, the three drove to the hospital. That was back in the day when husbands sat in the waiting room, or more likely paced. Dick sat with my dad. When the nurse came out to inform Dad he had a daughter and told him to follow her, the two trotted behind the nurse. When she turned around and saw identical men, dad said the look on her face indicated she thought, “Oh my. Does this lady even know who the father is?” Dick realized, whoops, not his party and quickly retreated back to the waiting room.

Both my dad and uncle went to law school. My uncle finished up a year or so before my dad. When my dad got married and wanted to go on a honeymoon, he was told he could not miss any classes. So, my uncle sat in for my dad during his honeymoon and no one ever knew the difference.

Grinning Dad and Uncle Dick taking his best man role seriously!

My dad and uncle had the habit of showing up at holiday parties dressed identically, even though they never consulted. It happened year after year. On more than one occasion they also chose the same, as in exact, presents for their wife’s birthday, despite their birthdays being at different times of year. One year, my aunt was visiting, and said to mom. “I have that exact vase. Where did you get it?” My mom said, “Oh, Bob gave it to me for my birthday last year.” Aunt Martha replied, ”Dick gave the same vase to me for my birthday last week.” This also happened multiple times without the brothers ever comparing notes before-hand.

When my dad had hernia surgery, my uncle waited in his room until he was wheeled back from recovery. My dad looked at my uncle. “Want to have some fun? Walk by the nurse’s station just down the hall, wave and say I’ll be back in a few hours. Going out for a movie.” You can imagine the chaos that ensued as nurses ran after my uncle, while others ran down the hall to my dad’s room, only to discover him in his bed and laughing that his joke worked so well.

One rather amusing scenario caused problems until all parties could explain what happened. You have to understand, my dad was the talker and jokester of the two. My uncle was not a conversationalist. In fact, my sister and I used to laugh that Uncle Dick grunted more than he spoke. Even when he initiated a telephone call, he’d ID himself, then say nothing. On our end, after a long silence, we would finally have to prompt Dick by saying, “what can we do for you?” before he realized he hadn’t said a word after “hello.”

One night my uncle dined with my aunt. A couple approached the table and started yakking away. Dick just nodded a few times and probably said something about “nice seeing you.” A few days later the rumors were flying among dad’s friends that he was seen out with a woman who was NOT his wife. My uncle never explained he was the twin brother. His explanation was “I just figured he knew I was your brother.” It took some sleuthing on my dad’s part to even figure out who the couple was who thought he was stepping out on his wife. In the end, luckily, everyone had a good laugh.

Can you tell, from description above, which one is Dad?

The moral of this story, about twins in families, is there is never a dull moment. One of these days, I’ll have to write a story (or maybe two stories) about twins.

Do you have any funny family stories that would add to the plot of a fun story – either one you’d like to write or read?

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~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine.

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