Two For the Price of One.

So I'm reading a book about twins. Lost twins, dead twins, you name it. Lately twins have been a theme in my life. A guy in my class is apparently a twin, and I restrained myself from the traditional barrage of questions that twins are subjected to. I never knew they were so subjected until Alpha Twin Jon Yang pointed out to me the stupidity of questions people ask, and their incessant fascination with aliens, I mean, twins. So it began. Then I started reading this book. Then today at lunch I met a guy who has a twin brother and who largely planned his living and educational experiences in college around his brother's compatibility. Twins twins twins. They're everywhere I go.

Twins came up yet again during a screening Degrassi Junior High chez Susie and Miguel. They were watching their show, and I found myself enraptured with the twins Erica and something or other (I was distracted by her skort, truth be told) as they pulled the old switcheroo on a guy who didn't want to go out with one of them. Do twins really do this stuff or is this only in the movies and in Sweet Valley High?

I'm sure there was a week or two when I was younger that I would have wanted a twin. Susie remembers my childhood in more detail than I do, so perhaps she can pipe in. I do recall that it was de rigeur at Highland Park high school- we had many sets of them. But I never wanted them as badly as other people did. Why would I want someone to compete with THAT directly? I think not. Who wants to be the sister of "the cuter one"? I think our parents putting us in matching clothes, even just a few times a year and in choice Units ensembles, was enough to beat any interest in twin-dom out of us.

I wonder if twins feel overshadowed in the age of the fertility drug. I mean, when we have tv shows like John and Kate Plus Eight, two feels like a measly number. Who ISN'T having twins these days?

But on a more serious note (if only briefly), the book I'm reading (THE THIRTEENTH TALE, by Diane Setterfield) mentions that perhaps twins are just complete. The rest of us go around looking for our soulmates, our counterparts, our partners, but twins have that completion from day one. I wonder if that feels true. I wonder if twins feel less pressure to settle down or find a partner because they have a partner in crime from their grand entrance into the world. More than that, though, I was struck by the author's self-assuredness that everyone does wander earth looking for their perfect match. I feel like there's an easter hunt and I wasn't invited. Sure, as you have heard me whine about, I'd love a great relationship as well as the next girl, but not to the extent of feeling "incomplete". (there will be no Jerry McGuire'ing in this house!)

I'm all about 'signs'. I feel like there's a reason all this twin stuff is happening in my life. Now to channel my inner Jessica Fletcher and figure out why.