Identical Cousins

I want to share further proof of the power of nature over nurture. On my Mom's side of the family I have an uncle and an aunt (both married) and two cousins. My aunt still lives in town, so we grew up seeing her all the time, but my uncle moved away after college. As kids, we always enjoyed visits from my cousins, but they were few and far between. I would say, to put it into perspective, that I knew some of my friends' cousins better than I knew my own.

Due to my recent move to the Garden State, a few towns away from my extended family, I was able to get back in touch with them. They were gracious enough to invite me for Easter weekend.

My uncle and aunt came to pick me up and the whole ride, my aunt was turned around in her seat watching me as I talked and talked about my life. Later that night, we had some martinis (them) and daquaris (me) and had a very pleasant conversation. It's always different talking to people who knew me as a child now that I'm an adult. It was like I was meeting them for the first time. As I was getting ready to head up to bed, my aunt declared that I would be very surprised the next day when my cousin arrived. When I asked her why she explained that we obviously had the same genes, we were so much alike. She said that we both nodded our heads in an affirming way after making a statement, made the similar facial expressions, and used the same word choices. She had noticed since the very moment she saw me, and said all she could think about all day was how identical we had ended up.

She was exactly right. As soon as my cousin showed up, I started realizing our similarities. Our looks were the first thing. She has naturally wavy brown hair, olive skin, and the "Carson" smile, just like me. Then, little things started happening. We noticed that we take our coffee the same way, like the same foods, dislike the same foods, indulge in the same hobbies, shy away from the same insecurites...just EVERYTHING. She mentioned that she didn't like that her wedding shower was on the 13th of the month. I asked her, on a whim, if she would ever leave the radio volume on an odd number, to which she was horrified- Never! She looked as horrified as I feel about odd numbers. It finally became the joke. If my aunt wanted to ask us both a question, she would just ask one and assume that the other agreed!

It was an absolutely lovely weekend. There were a lot of laughs and good times, delicious food and perfect hospitality. I was so pleased with how alike my cousin and I had turned out. I was even happier that we had gotten back in touch and can remain friends forever. It's nice to have somebody I can call up to talk about how much I hate the color orange. And I know she'll completely understand.