Somehow this came up last weekend when she said to my daughter, "We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but we do know it's just one baby. It's not twins, thank God!"
My girl was more than a little bit miffed by that statement and said to me, annoyed, "What's wrong with twins anyway?"
Fifteen years ago, today, I became a mother. Two babies. A boy and a girl. Although I didn't know it at the time, it was a one-shot deal. It took me much longer to realize how okay that was.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing that day. Some days, I still feel that way. Especially as they catapult at lightening speed toward adulthood.
Some days, most days, I feel like I'm doing okay.
It's better now, I guess. It was always expensive, starting with the $75,000 hospital bill (a bargain, I'm sure) that arrived in a box on my doorstep. There really is double everything, and that part is no joke. Ten school uniforms, ten teachers to remember (I have trouble with that part). They mostly have one set of friends, which is both good and bad. There are two very distinct and very different personalities at play. They are two people. Two very, very different people.
The only thing that didn't double was time.
That's the most unfair part of all of this, I suppose. I just wish we had more time. I blinked my eyes and today they are fifteen. I've started thinking about drivers ed, dating, college. I said the other day, "We have the perfect amount of chairs in our dining room for when the Boy and Girl get married!" and Jason looked at me like I have three heads. I should note that Jason still thinks the children are six or something and said something about flash cards the other day. He doesn't see what I see.
That what you get when you have twins is double everything...except time.
From where I'm sitting? That's the only thing "wrong" with twins. The only, only thing.
So Happy, Happy Birthday (Birthday) to my sweet little troublemakers.
Thank God for you.