I can't imagine growing up in the world without my Irish Twin, Sara. I honestly feel like we're twins, only I came out 363 days before she did. Sometimes people think it's strange how close we are. Even my friends that have sisters say they can't believe how good of friends we are. I have a pair of older sisters that aren't quite as close as us, so I know it's a special bond we have. I once told Sara that I wished we were conjoined twins. She did not share that wish.
My mom says when Sara was just barely a toddler, I taught her how to get out of her crib; probably because I couldn't wait to play with my friend. Since her inception, we've shared a bed/room practically our whole lives. By the time I was in the 8th grade, I was finally able to have my own room. However, I would go to Sara's room and sleep on our old canopy bed at night anyway. That trend lasted throughout college. Okay, it's still a true statement today. Sara pretends to hate that I still crawl into bed with her, but I know she secretly doesn't mind. I know it, Sara.
Notice how my hair has not changed since I was two. I hated brushing it then and I hate brushing it now. Also notice the size of Sara's head.
You see, bedtime for us never really existed. Our parents would try putting us to sleep, but it never worked. Our mom would hug Sara good night and reach over to hug me and in the process of leaning over, she would squish Sara. We loved that. Then my dad would tell us these bedtime stories about three girls named Janet, Janetta, and Janae. We would say our prayers and then get tucked in. After my parents would go to their room, Sara and I did not go to sleep. Rather, we chose to continue playing. Usually we would stay in bed but talk or invent some game that didn't even have to involve toys. I remember hearing my parents yell from their room, "Little girls, go to sleep!" We would yell, "Okay!" and then giggle and laugh and keep on a keepin' on. I mean, sometimes we would get out of bed at night and play in the dark.
This same routine was all to familiar in the morning as well. We would wake up, play some more, get ready for school, and then continue to play. Any time Sara missed school, I would miss school, and vice versa (even if one of us wasn't even sick). Looking back at my old report cards, I would say that my 30 day absences in Kindergarten, or 25 day absences in third grade, is proof enough that we spent a massive amount of time together. Hey, don't judge my mom for not making us go to school every day! I attribute my creativity to those absences. While you were in school every day learning numbers, Sara and I were learning how to run a business (our mom had her own international greeting card company). Anyway, we walked home everyday after school and would then proceed to play "Business" or "School." In both cases, I was always the teacher/business owner and Sara was always the student/employee. I'm sorry, Sara. I shouldn't have said "If you don't let me be the teacher, I won't play," or "I know I said you could be the boss next, but I'm tired now." What's more important is that we spent time together, right?
I think these pictures were published in one of my mom's catalogs. Even at the tender age of five I had no talent for modeling. What is my hand doing? And notice that once Sara's body began to catch up to the size of her head, she was so cute in her pig tails.
We did everything together. There were no two peas in a pod more alike than us. We learned recorder together, waited in the car for my mom to "quickly" run into UPS together, pretended to be ice skaters together, wet the bed together, watched the same movies, wore the same clothes (except in different colors: Sara - purple, Lexia - pink), made up our own language, the list goes on and on. The funny thing is, I don't ever remember Sara being a nuisance. I never once thought, "I want to do this without Sara," or "I wish she wasn't always hanging around me." I never wanted us to be apart - even when I didn't want to be the student or the employee in the game we were playing. I can still remember our favorite games: cards, tea parties, drawing pretend yearbooks and magazines, playing with paper doll cut-outs from mom's McCall's and Vogue pattern books, or playing bank (I was the banker...naturally).
We made everything playtime - or just enjoyable. Even when taking a bath we would bring our Barbie Dolls into the tub and play for hours. I'm not kidding. When the water would get cold, we would drain some of it, and add more hot water. We didn't even need toys most of the time. Just being in each other's company was enough to have fun. And to this day I can think of nothing better to do with my time than talk to my sister, send her emails, send her dumb text messages, etcetera! Etcetera! Etcetera!
Here we are at night playing "Town." Town consisted of overly fat-shaped blocks, my brothers plastic cars, and Monopoly money. Basically, you build homes, stores, and banks and drive around to each place using your money. There was no winning to most of the games we played. Usually we just set up an environment and let it run its course (as in "School," "Business," "Bank," "Paper-Dolls interacting at church" you get the idea).
My dream for us now is to have a double wedding, like the
Brady Brides. A double wedding is a day when two people (Irish Twins in this case) get married on the same day. I want a double wedding so badly! My husband better like my sister, or he's off like a dirty shirt! I take that back. What would be even better is to have a double wedding and marry a set of Irish Twin BOYS!!! Because then maybe they would understand us, huh, Sa? Maybe boys don't bond so well though, because of the whole testosterone thing. Hm.
I know it still sounds a little strange. Perhaps my monologue could best be described from a scene in a movie, "Long Island Lolita: The Amy Fischer Story." That was totally an inside joke for my twinster. Seriously, though, it could best be described from a movie:
In America. I love that movie because I like watching those two little girls interact with eachother. Especially in the scene when the mom is having a baby and the two girls are outside in the waiting room. The older sister is sitting close to the younger one. They're just sitting there, waiting, and the older sister pulls the younger sisters feet on top of her lap, just to have her next to her. I knew when I saw that scene that those little actresses were sisters in real life. Sure enough they are. How did I know? Because that is such a sisterly gesture to do. I also remember watching Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on television once describing what it was like being a twin. Although I have no recollection of what they said, I rememember thinking, "that's just like Sara and me!" It's really difficult to explain. We're just so similar in our taste for things, people, perspectives, and it's not that we do it on purpose or to be the same, we just are.
We even had the same name growing up. You see, Sara and I have always been called "The Little Girls." Even my brother who is a little over a year older than me called us that. No one called me "Lexia" or my twin "Sara." We were "The Little Girls" because we were always together. It wasn't until my older sister had two of her own girls that the title was finally relinquished to them. The other night I was visiting my sister and helped her put the girls down for bed. They are five and three. They said their prayers, and we sang some songs, kissed them good night and left the room. A few moments later I was sitting on the couch and heard the little girls talking and giggling and I couldn't help but think of the times I shared with my sister and best friend. That's what I remember most about growing up as a kid with my Irish Twin.
Let's see what
Sara remembers.
