Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Twins

I have an identical twin! My twin's name is Stacy and yes she is very good looking. She's also two years older than me, and not actually my twin. Apparently we are dead ringers for each other, well at least according to Joe Q. Public (who just sees that we have the same hair color and are the same height, so he concludes that we are in fact the same person).

Growing up in the same-size shadow of my sister I resented her because people always confused our identities. It was bad enough growing up with four sisters and being used to being called "Ja-Kri-Jul-Sta-Allison" by my parents...but my parents at least knew that I was the fifth child, even though they had a hard time remembering my name. Having people in the neighborhood calling me by my sister's name was thus beyond irritating. When I went to college I was excited to forge a new identity, but alas my sister also went to that school and I did have a passerby on campus call me "Stacy."

After graduation I got a job in Salt Lake, where my sister also lived. I figured that living in this big of a city, rather than the small town where we went to school, would help me to have my own identity as Allison, and not Stacy. Alas, I inadvertently moved into the same ward as my sister, and am not known as Allison OR Stacy, but as "Stacy's sister."

This "big" city has once more proved that I am destined forever to be known by my sister's name. Today at the grocery store, a pint-sized voice behind me called, "Hi, Stacy." Because 99% of the time people calling me by that name are indeed referring to me, my Pavlovian response was to turn and see who was talking. A young girl around 4 or 5 years old was indeed talking to me. My sister was a preschool teacher, and I'm assuming that this girl was one of her former students.

Because it is often easier for me just to assume my sister's identity for five seconds and say "hi" back, that is what I did. But then the girl kept walking by the aisle with a new greeting for me each time.

I'm not going to lie, it is still extremely irritating to be confused with my sister. Especially because I apparently can't avoid it. This instance was so unexpected and outlandish that it is slightly amusing as well.

There is some good out of having a "twin" though. If I ever decide to revert to a life of crime, I know who I am going to frame...

1 comment:

  1. Poor Lydia...I mean Number Five...(which would you rather be called?) :)

    I love that Stacy's student thinks you are Stacy. She was probably so delighted to see her "teacher."

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