Twindom

I have a twin sister. We are not identical or fraternal, but half-identical. Not going into too much biology, but instead of having one egg, fertilized by one sperm and then a split like in identical twins, and unlike two separate eggs and separate sperm like in fraternal, our situation occurred that one egg split and then was fertilized by two separate sperm. Basically, we share the share DNA from our mother but different from our father, as opposed to both or neither as in the other cases.

I have never really thought about the schematics until recently when I read this book Identical Strangers written by twins that were separated and adopted by different families unknowingly and were reunited later in life in their thirties.

I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without Aileen, or what it would be like meeting her for the first time at age 35. We are so different yet so similar. She is quite honestly the only person in this world that I feel I can be completely blunt with. I don't know why this is, but it is. I don't understand some of her choices and sometimes I wonder if we would ever be friends if we weren't sisters, but at the same time I have these urges to be with her sometimes and I have this overwhelming sense of missing her. I can't explain it.

It was interesting to read about these women noticing their similiarities and differences and grappling with the huge idea of identity and nature vs. nuture while trying to find their birth mother. It makes me feel lucky to have spent my whole life with Aileen.

Many people have asked me what it's like to be a twin. I usually tell them I don't know what life would be like not being one. But if I am in the mood to talk about it more, I usually tell them it's both a blessing and a curse. I don't enjoy always being compared to her both physically and emotionally and I didn't like having to share things sometimes, especially as a young child (i.e. birthday presents, milestones in our lives). But I have cherished the fact that I always had someone to talk to at night before going to sleep, someone to eat lunch with on the first day of school in a new city, and someone to play with when my friends couldn't come over.

But what struck me as the biggest blessing after reading about how these twins missed out on their childhood together, is that Aileen was there with me through all of it. She is the person's whose life is closest to my experiences. She is the only one who can commiserate with me the time I had a 105 temperature and didn't tell my parents because I wanted to swim, the time we petted what was most likely a rabid racoon at my grandfather's house in Florida, how it felt to be on my own for the first time in North Carolina and many other events. On my wedding day, my sister wept behind me as my maid of honor as I said my vows. I asked her later what made her cry.  She said it was because she realized all the emotions I went throught to get there and how much I wanted this to happen in my life ever since I was a little girl. It made me cry at how grateful I was to have her beside me.

And though we are so different in so many ways in that I can't explain away through simply just genetics or environment, I believe it is because we grew up together and share some of the same genes that we will always share something in common...we will always love each other intensely forever.

Mary B., Queen of Bama

I'm reading this book right now, Interred With Their Bones, by Jennifer Lee Carrell. It's like a Shakespearan Da Vinci Code. I like these books where they use history and literature to solve puzzles and go on an adventure. In this book they are trying to find an original copy of the play The History of Cardenio which was attributed to Shakespeare and a man named John Fletcher in 1613. It is considered a lost play. I had no idea this play even existed before. I'm halfway through so we'll see what happens.

Reading this book just makes think about this period in the world. I think if I had a time machine I would definitely visit Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth I was a sassy lady. First of all her dad, Henry VIII, wanted a son to rule but he got his daughter, who ruled until 1603. She didn't need a husband, she was an original sista doing it for herself. There are some who even believe she  wrote Shakespeare's plays. Plus she has auburn hair, pale skin and dark eyes. Hello, that describes me! :)

I don't know if I could have ruled an entire country, but it would be interesting to see her in person. I bet she was a bad ass. Just a hunch. :)

Coffee And Chicken Coop To Go Please...

I've never really considered myself a country gal. But I haven't thought of myself as urban either. I'm somewhere in between...possibly a suburbanite but I still don't think that fits either. When Michael and I started to think about buying a house(we still are but hey, you can't beat a free house) I said we would live in the suburbs with a nice big fenced in yard. Michael wanted something more rural. I didn't know if I could do it.

Now that I am here and we live so rurally there are still some annoying things about it but there are some wonderful qualities as well. There's beautiful scenery and lots of space for our dogs to play and run around and lots of privacy. It's nice to get up in the morning and have my breakfast and look out on the rolling hills. Country living can be very charming!

Lately I have been fantasizing about maybe having both. Have a rural house that is close enough to a city(less than an hour) where we can have nice shopping and entertainment and cool restaurants. That would be my ideal.

I was reminded of this when I was watching this new show on the Cooking Channel called Extra Virgin with actress Debi Mazar and her Tuscan husband Gabriele Corcos. She is a New York gal with a husband that cooks rustic Italian food like spinach, goat cheese gnocchi(yum!). They live in Los Angeles but have a quaint little house and two little girls who help them cook in the kitchen. The last episode they bought chickens so Gabriele could have fresh eggs to cook with. They set up a coop in the backyard in Los Angeles! Michael has always said he wanted some chickens someday and I am starting to fantasize about it. I can have chickens and a lovely garden and fields for Alli and Gumbo to run in and still be close enough to Starbucks. Why not? If Debi and Gabriele can do it, so can I!

The Story Of The Five Balls And Other Habits Of A Housewife

I have been thinking about routine and how I have finally settled into one here in my new life in rural Alabama as a housewife. It's not that I planned it this way. I have been trying to find a job for a while. It's just that we live so far away from everything it's hard.

But I have discovered that I am now a stereotypical housewife. I do the dishes everyday. I do laundry everyday. I even make my husband breakfast and send him off with a kiss everyday. And I have been reading a bodice-ripper romance! It's usually not my sort of thing but I remembered this author as popular when I worked at the library in North Carolina and asked my mom to order me her first book to try it out through her paperback swap and I had no idea her first book was so Harlequin-esque. But I felt obligated to read it since she ordered it and had it shipped to me. I'm kind of embarrassed by the low brow selection but I shouldn't judge, it's actually not that bad and it's something to read.

Anyways, I was talking to my mom this morning and she was talking about how now that she is retired it would be very difficult for her to go back to work because of how she has created her own routine. It got me thinking...if I got a job who would do the dishes? Who would do the laundry? Would I have time to read anymore? I got panicky. How did I do all those things when I was fully employed for so long?

I guess I did all those things but not as routinely as I do now. Life is constantly a juggling act. I recently read James Patterson's book Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. In it the narrator tells a tale called The Story of the Five Balls. Basically we are all juggling balls representing work, family, health, friends and integrity. You try so hard to keep them all in the air until you realize one day that work is a rubber ball and the other balls are made of glass. If you drop the work ball it will bounce back. The others will be changed forever if you drop them, even shattered. It is only when you truly understand the lesson of the five balls that you will have the balance in your life.

It was comforting for me to know that my routine allows me to juggle those all important 4 balls. And even though I've dropped my work ball right now, I can(and will!) bounce back.

It's Not Good Or Bad...Just Different

This picture just cracks me up

Marion, Alabama. This is where I live. I never dreamed to even drive through this part of Alabama let alone live here. It is small. It is rural in a state that isn't that populated. To put it in perspective for all my North Carolina friends. The entire county has about 5,000 less people than the city of Lincolnton. Sometimes I just don't know what to do with myself here. I think some of the people here think I am an alien. Here are some interesting things that I have seen here:

1. There are numerous locations around town where there is a stoplight AND a stop sign in an intersection. It is very confusing and I don't know if I should stop or go. Why do they have both???!!!
2. There are numerous signs for the 3 or 4 restaurants we have that say "best in town!" such as "best margaritas" or "best burger." There isn't much competition!
3. At the lone grocery store I can't get ANY type of seafood yet I can choose from move than 20 brands of barbecue sauce(I counted) and there is an endless supply of pig's feet.
4. There is a town square and there are shops on it but I have never seen a single person go in or out of them. I wonder how they survive.

 It's just funny to me how places are different. We went to a fundraiser for the board I joined this past weekend and I introduced Michael to one of the board members. She suggested that next weekend we go to the Wild Turkey Federation banquet so we can meet some more young people. I don't know if I will have anything in common with those people...just a wild guess :)

First Post!!!

Hi everyone! This is my first post of my new blog. Everyone seems to have one of these and I never thought I could dedicate the time to this but since I am unemployed and kind of secluded in a rural area I decided this would be a perfect time to start this.

A little bit about me...I got married in October to my husband Michael and now live in Marion, Alabama. I got my master's in Library Science in August and have been looking for a job in the field. We have an 11-week-old female black lab named Alli and we have a 6-year-old brown Chesepeake retriever male named Gumbo. I'm sure I will talk about them a lot here on this thing.

This blog will be a place for me to talk about what's going on in my life. The things I am enjoying and the things I am not. Hopefully, you'll enjoy what I have to say and let me know!! And so begins my new saga!!! Talk to you soon!