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Jun 25, 2008

TRIPLE TAKE!

It has been a while since I have seen identical twins - but like the bus that never comes and then three turn up at once, last week I saw three sets of monozygotic children in two days! What are the odds? At first I thought there must be a convention in town, but not so. The four little girls and two toddler boys, were shopping with their families and playing in the park and obviously at home in the area.

What fascinated me the most though, was not so much the succession of three sets of identical twin facial features – unexpected and lovely as they all were - but the fact that in this modern day and age, with its emphasis on individuality and freedom of expression, none of the children were identically dressed. Not even colour co-ordinated!

How different western society is now from the early nineteen-twenties, when my grandmother always dressed my mother and aunt - who are twins - and another aunt, just twelve months older, in identical outfits. From their underwear right up to their bonnets, coats and little white gloves, they were always dressed exactly the same - and woe betide them if they ever mismatched themselves!

Everywhere they went they were stopped and poked and exclaimed over and pinched on the cheeks - and hated it! But never more so than when all three were sitting in their identical Sunday outfits on a park bench one day, and a little lad of about seven, stopped transfixed before them.
‘Mam! Mam! Ecstatic and wild eyed with excitement he leaped up and down, choking on his aniseed ball.
‘Mam! Maaam! Hurry! C’mon, quick! Loook, look what I’ve found! Giblets!’*

(* For the non culinary - the gizzard and visceral organs of a fowl - bleugh!)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good one! Geri

My Mum and my late aunt were non-identical twins. They were dressed alike and compared constantly and it gave my mother such a hang-up that when she had twins of her own (me and my brother), she made sure to give us separate identities by never dressing us alike and by sending us to different schools. It obviously worked as we've remained close throughout our lives.

And no, we're not identical of course but you'd be amazed at the number of people who are stupid enough to ask!

Geri Atric said...

Your mother was a wise woman! All children need to be encouraged and nutured into developing their own (confident) identity.

Opposite sex monozygotic twins? LOL! Well it would certainly have made you famous!

coloredflowers said...

I have grown up dressed similar but not the same as my sister. We had the same clothes, just different colors to differentiate ourselves. Though we aren’t that identical, we are still pretty similar. Some people just cant seem to tell, they always say "You have the same face" but I don’t see it.

I can not say the same for my mother though. She would rather my sister and I stay together forever and not be independent. She didn’t like to separate us and I guess I don’t blame her. But its taking a toll on me now, that’s for sure.

http://twin-ramblings.blogspot.com/

Geri Atric said...

Hi coloredflowers - welcome!

I had a little peek at yours and your sister's blog and read how it upsets you that people keep asking which one of you is the 'evil' twin (!). Grr..! I can really understand how annoying that must be. People can be very insensitive and ignorant, especially when they think they are being witty and smart, or just teasing you to see you get mad! According to my mother and auntie, it gets easier to shrug off stupid remarks like that as you get older. And anyway, you and your sister will both always have that one thing 'singles' don't have - a birth buddy for life, loving you and caring about you whatever you do - and that's priceless!