Send in the Clones

I watched them for a long time, just to be sure. It wasn’t possible. Was it? The signs were all there. The similarities and differences. I have to admit it. It’s the undeniable truth. My daughters are clones. They are exact replicas of my sister and me. Someone should have warned me this could happen. One of the most interesting things I’ve determined is that my sister and I were somehow mashed and muddled together in some glorious genetic glue. That mixture was then divided in half and glopped into my womb, one gestation period at a time. True to form, those gestation periods also occurred about three years apart in both generations. When we were very young, my sister and I grudgingly loved one another. I mean, it’s not COOL to admit you love your little sister, right? She’s supposed to be a pest... an annoyance... or, in my case, the one you accidentally let fall down the back stairs in her walker because you weren’t paying attention like your mom asked. Don’t worry – she was fine. In the case of my older daughter, the little sister was the pest whose elbow she accidentally dislocated by trying to yank her up onto the slide and bridge contraption at the park. Don’t worry – she was fine too. When it came to school, my sister and I both turned out to be good students – an accomplishment to which our mother happily laid claim at regular intervals. Couldn’t have been us... we inherited our brains. My first child went off to school with great excitement. I got my first inkling that she would be a good student when she won a school board writing contest – in Kindergarten. When her sister came along, I admit I wasn’t holding out hope for any kind of genetic blessing. Most families we knew didn’t have only good students. There was always a mix of good and trying-hard-to-be-good. My sister and I must have been freaks of nature. Imagine when, to my surprise and delight, my younger daughter excelled too – an accomplishment to which I’ve now laid claim at regular intervals. They inherited their brains. Physically, there are the unavoidable parallels. In each sister pairing, there’s a slender half and a not-as-slender half. We all share similar hair color – although the older generation has become wise to “natural color” from a box. At least one in each pairing is ALWAYS stressing and obsessing over something – although all four of us are remarkably good at it. But someone inevitably has the pure common sense to stop and cuddle a kitten or drop everything and go for a walk – usually right before implosion occurs. I said we were smart – it’s just on an alternating basis! I’m always so happy when someone tells me that they could put one of my daughters and me together in a dark room (no denying the similarities there!) or that one of my children could just as easily be one of my sister’s kids. There’s an incredible joy to having ties that strong. One thing I’ve always known to be true is that I love my sister more than she will ever know. There’s a common saying that you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. Even if I could have chosen, I would have picked my sister. And like the sisters before them, I believe my daughters will stick together for life. They inherited the love – it didn’t have to be cloned.