Storytelling Sunday---Mom, Me and Those Pesky Twins

I'm in London now. It's 2 a.m. your time, but 9 a.m. here. We didn't sleep a wink on the plane. We're waiting for our room to be ready which is going to be awhile since the current occupants haven't checked out yet. Our plan was to take a 3 hr. nap, then stay up until about 9 p.m. tonight and hopefully avoid the jet lag. We'll see how it goes. Butch is going to want to head out pretty soon.

On to the story. Friday was the one year anniversary of mom's death. I decided that I would do this story in her memory. That's the thing about stories---and why I'm so passionate about telling them. When you tell a story, you provide a bit of immortality to the person the story is about! Think about that. If we tell the stories, the people live on. That's what it's all about---well and the "hokey pokey" too.

This one's for you mom. When we were little, mom dressed the twins and I alike---like even though we were the same size, people might think we were triplets. Janice and Jennifer are identical, so I just looked like I was adopted into that threesome---plus, the name Barbara didn't fit either (mom went on to name all the other girls in the family with "J" names---I should have asked her what that was about---I just wasn't part of the "J" club---maybe I was adopted? That would explain why I didn't inherit the "drinking" gene). Anyway, as we got a little older, the twins passed me up in the size department. Then I got their hand-me-downs. Since I had multiples of everything, my friends teased me that I didn't wash my clothes. Seriously, though, the worst was the homemade crop tops mom made for us out of the leftover kitchen curtain material. She even put the leftover, red, ball fringe on the bottom. Believe me, running around in our kitchen curtains wasn't much fun. I opened myself up for a lot of ridicule, but what was a kid to do? Mom was all proud of her sewing abilities and it those days, you didn't dare complain. So wear the kitchen curtains I did!

By the time I got to 5th grade, I'd had enough of those twins and having to dress like them. Mom brought home green velvet Christmas dresses for all of us. I said I didn't like the dress. It caused a really big stink because the twins loved it (at least Jennifer did---Janice didn't like dresses, so she just went along with Jennifer). Dad kept asking me why I didn't like it---I kept saying I didn't know, I just didn't like it. Inside myself---the part that would never verbalize what I really thought---I was thinking, "I'm not going to dress like the twins anymore." We were starting to have some sibling issues---a lot of fighting and I pretty much hated them. I secretly took great delight in the fact that mom had to shop for them in the "chubby" department (yes, it was actually called that back then).

Anyway, as dad kept quizzing me about the dress, mom was in the background saying, "individuality, Gene, individuality!" I didn't know what that meant, but dad let up. And I didn't have to wear that dress. Nor did I ever have to dress like the twins again. Mom recognized what I wasn't even aware of. I'm glad she did, but I still got their hand-me-downs.

Here's a recent picture. Jennifer is not in it. My sister, Jeanne is on the left and my sister-in-law, Janet is in the back. She was welcomed in to the "J" club 35 years ago. Janice is next and I'm on the end.

I have to say, sibling rivalry aside---I love those girls now!