Lucky Us

Last Sunday, Nate made a delicious dinner of lemon chicken, brown rice, and peas, covered in a homemade bechamel sauce.  Lucky woman?  Yes I am.

We had some brown rice and sauce left over so Nate decided to make himself some hard boiled eggs to go with it in his Monday lunch.  He started the eggs and when they began boiling I turned the water down to simmer.  Then we both settled back to relax and enjoy our Sunday evening.

Around 6 PM we got a text that my nephew N was born and at 6:40 we got the go-ahead to drive to the hospital to see the baby.  So I gathered my camera and we made the one-hour trek to the hospital.

N is beautiful.  Enough said.  We hung around long enough to watch him get his first shots (pitiful!) and his first bath in the nursery.  We visited with my sister and brother-in-law and even got to hold the little bundle.

Baby N, about 2 hours after his birth.

Then Nate said, "Katie, did you take the eggs off the stove?"

You can imagine our horror when we realized neither of us turned the stove off.  Nate started calling neighbors to see if they'd check on the apartment but nobody answered. ("What are they going to do anyway?" I asked.  "Watch it burn down?")  He finally reached his dad, who was about 20 minutes south of our apartment and who agreed to go check out the situation. (When we got home and met him, he said, "I don't know what I was going to do, other than watch it burn down.")  Did we try the complex's emergency line?  Yes.  No answer.

We rushed home without getting pulled over  and we booked it into the apartment. The water in the pot had completely cooked off.  Amazingly, the pot was fine as were the eggs.

Lucky us?  Yes indeed.

Twins

Rachel and Katie, 1988

My sister and I go to the same doctor.  I had an appointment a few days ago, and the nurses started talking about us behind the check-in desk.  I guess they must think it is sound-proof back there but since the desk is not an entirely separate room with a door and Plexiglas divider, I heard every word.  And this is what they were saying:

"That is Katherine.  Her sister Rachel comes here too.  They look exactly alike."

This is not the first time Rachel and I have heard we look exactly alike.

First time:  2003 YW basketball.  I was 18 and Rachel was 14 almost 15.  I had four fouls and so I was beginning to play a little more cautiously so I wouldn't foul out.  She and I were both on the court and the other team took possession of the ball and ran it down the court to their basket.  Just as the girl was making a lay-up, Rachel jumped in and blocked the ball by hitting the girl's arm.  A clear foul.  She ran out of the way just as I ran up to grab the rebound.  The ref's whistle blew.  "FOUL on 24!"  I looked down.  I was 24!  But I'd been no where near the shooter at the time of the foul.  My entire ward was shouting to the ref that she had the wrong sister, but she refused to relent.  I was fouled out of the game on my sister's foul.  Not a happy day.

Not 2003.  2008 at BYU.  Matching Socks!

Second time:  2003 YW basketball (again). The week after above-said basketball game.  Rachel and I intentionally wore our hair differently and wore different colored shorts so the refs would not make the same mistake again.  During one of the time-outs a girl from the other team came up to me and said, "Are you two twins?"  Later in the game Rachel was fouled and so she lined up to take foul shot.  The ref stopped her before she could - "Wasn't it her?" she said, pointing to me.  Irritated, Rachel said, "NO!" and gestured to her shorts to show that we were not even dressed the same.

Third time:  2008 EY.  Shortly after Rachel was married, I brought in this picture to put on my desk at work:

A coworker (who, I will admit, did not know me well) saw the picture and asked me how long I'd been married.  

Please look at the picture again, and note that Rachel and I have our faces right next to each other and she is most definitely the one in the white dress.

Fourth time:  2010 Dr.'s Office.  I had an appointment and the nurse came out to call me back from the waiting room so she could check my vitals.

Nurse:"You look so much better!"  Whoa.  I'm not usually greeted this way.
Me: "Um, what do you mean?"
Nurse:  "Well, you were so sick last week, you looked pretty bad."
Me:  "I wasn't sick last week."
Nurse:  "Yes you were.  Didn't you come in?"

Stirling Family Reunion, 2010

Then it dawned on me.  Rachel had been very sick the week before with the flu or something miserable like that.

Me:  "Oh, that was my sister!"
Nurse:  "Whoa.  You two look so much alike!"

I always thought a twin sister would be cool and I can't think of anyone I'd rather be twins with than Rachel.  The thing is, our family cannot see the "remarkable" resemblance at all.  Sure, we're both tall and have dark hair but other than that, we don't think we look too much alike.  It does provide us with a lot of amusement, though, when we're mistaken for each other.  I'm sure we'll both continue to collect stories!