Family

So this weekend the Mr's identical twin, The Clone, is coming into town. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Mathematics at the University of California, Irvine. He and his lovely wife, Mrs. Clone, have lived in CA for longer than the Mr. and I have been married. Before that the four of us were all living in our small college town in Central Minnesota. When The Clone comes to town things get a little crazy. The Mr. becomes like a boy again and there's much yelling, jumping, geeking and crazy scheming that go on. One has to mentally prepare for it. Not to mention the extra familial responsibilities that come with having out-of-town family in town. I'm started to get exhausted just thinking about it.

In honor of The Clone coming to town I thought that I would tell a little story from the past. A story of love, intrigue, humor and ... Well, not really, but it's a good story nonetheless. Enjoy.

Back in the day MP used to work at a sweet, little coffee shop that was near campus. The Mr. and his Clone would come in to study, for seriously, twelve hours a day. They were nothing if not dedicated. The Clone would come in the mornings, and the Mr. would come in the evenings, since I only worked the opening shifts The Clone and I became fast friend first. We'd often chat as I cleaned tables or took my break. He'd always drop these hints like, "I have a twin brother who looks exactly like me, and he's single!" (Even though he wasn't, but that's another story for another time). The boys would come in and basically scam their way into free cups of coffee. I never really minded, they were nice, funny, quiet and came in Ev.ery.day. Plus, they promised that they'd pay me back tips someday (don't think I'd forget that now that I'm family boys!) They'd skateboard in the street when they needed a break and I'd always be afraid that I'd end up having to call their mother to let her know that her son was now a smear in the middle of the street. The coffee shop was a happy little community and they were major players in it.

This went on and on for over a year. Then one night The Clone invited me out to dinner with Mrs. Clone (then Girlfriend Clone). Little did I know that the Mr. and I were being set up during a mass couple date. Everyone was coupled off except us. We didn't like this one bit, no.sir.ee, we did not. And to show just how much we didn't like it we sat outside of the restaurant, chain smoking cigarettes and b*tching about how we didn't like it.

The thing was, that night we started to kinda like each other. The Mr. was still seeing that girl, but really? When we look back at the origins of our relationship we both go back to that night. As much as it pains me to admit it, The Clone and Mrs. Clone did really have a large part in getting us together, even if we didn't like it at the time. It took us another year to get together and then just a short eighteen months to get married. Hopefully someday the ending of this story will be our kids and the Clone's kids playing together because they live just down the street. Because as crazy as it would be, it would be wonderful to have them near by again.