Thursday, July 3, 2014

Wrong Face

Okay. YOU figure out who's who . . .
My Husby has four brothers.
All of which look/sound a lot alike.
Our oldest son, Mark was a daddy's boy.
He adored his father.
They spent most of Mark's waking hours together.
And many of the sleepy ones.
In the early years of our marriage, all of my Husby's family lived in close proximity to each other.
Getting together was easy.
And frequent.
Looking back, it was a fleeting, wonderful time.
One day, the entire family had been invited over for dinner.
They began to gather.
By ones, twos and threes.
My Husby, on the closing shift, was the last to arrive.
Our oldest son, almost two, was missing him.
He toddled through the group, looking for that one special, familiar face.
Finally, he spotted it.
Ran over and lifted his arms.
Then, supported by a strong grip, he snuggled down and nestled there, happy and content.
A few minutes later, the door opened.
And his father came in.
“Where's my boy?” he asked.
Mark stared at him.
Then spun around and looked at the man holding him, his face a perfect picture of confusion.
He looked back at the new arrival.
Then, again at the man who held him.
Finally, he made a choice and dove towards his father.
His real father.
Then glared accusingly at the uncle who had been holding him.

There is a codicil:
My sisters and I look a lot alike.
At one of our family reunions, my youngest son patted the leg of the woman he though was me. “Mom? Mom?”
She turned and looked at him.
Definitely not Mom.
He gasped and hid his face in his hands.

Mistaken identity.
It happens in the best of families.

16 comments:

  1. I am an identical twin - my kids can tell stories like this!

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  2. We don't have this problem in our family - we all look so different, I think some of us came from the milkman!

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  3. Oh the horror. Poor little kids will have nightmares.

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  4. Oh, such cute stories! And I LOVE that label! That is exactly how a kid would see it!

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  5. So funny how people see each other. This is the opposite situation: when I was much older than your son (probably 9 or 10) my aunt came out of my house and my friend said "hello" to her, calling her by my grandmother's name. I corrected the friend telling her that wasn't my grandmother. She was shocked and said they could be twins. I looked at her like she was nuts, I'd known them my whole life and they were easily distinguishable to me.

    I laughed and told the story to my mom. Who informed me of the truth that I could not see, my aunt and my grandmother were, in fact, identical twins!

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  6. My kids look enough like me to be recognised as mine, and enough like each other to be recognised as siblings, but that's as far as that goes. on the phone however myself and both daughters sound exactly the same, so it's a good thing we all live in different areas of the city.

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    Replies
    1. You're right! Must have been confusing when you all lived in the same house!

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  7. I am the only girl with 4 brothers. Thank goodness my kids never confused us. I don't think my self esteem could have taken it.

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