Hugh and I took the kids to a trade show yesterday. It was disappointingly boring for the most part and would have been a complete waste of time if not for the mini donuts.
I love mini donuts. Their buttery, sugary, melt-in-your-mouth goodness makes any fair or trade show worthwhile. To be perfectly honest most of the fairs I've gone to in the last few years have not been for the rides or the chance to win the teddy bear. Nope. I go for the mini donuts. I will willingly, even gladly, pay $15 dollars to get in the gate just to spend $3 on a little bag of sunshine. My internal compass does not point North, or any direction really, it points to mini donuts. You get me in that gate, I'll find you mini donuts.
Anyway we're wandering through the booths and filling out all the draw box forms we can find. Who cares if we don't have room for a pool table, and who cares if the last thing I want is a neon Budweiser sign, if it's free we're dropping our name in the box.
We got stopped at the RESP table lured by the draw of free money for our kids education. This is really just a ploy to get into your homes so you can be sold whatever the proverbial "they" think you should buy; education insurance, mutual funds, cars, the ultimate chopper.
The man running the booth was doing his best to engage us in conversation and set up an "at-home consultation" but I could see a booth giving away free fudge samples just 20 steps beyond us and I was itching to get moving. Unfortunately the guy was not picking up on my lack of enthusiasm and I didn't want to be rude so...
"So I see you have young kids."
"Yep."
"Are they twins?"
"Yep."
"Boys? Girls?"
"One of each actually."
"Oh wow that's great hey?"
"Yep."
At this point he walked to the front of the stroller to take a better look at them and he actually asked "So are they identical?"
Slightly surprised I replied, "Well, it's a boy and girl so...." I left it hanging so he could draw the obvious conclusion.
He looked at them again comparing their appearances and pronounced "Nope, definitely not identical."
Really? The fact that they don't look alike is what makes you think they're not identical? How about the fact that one has a penis and the other a vagina. I'd say that's sort of un-identical.
Sadly this is a common question we get. When the kids were first born and I was still in the hospital about 80% of people who visited us asked if they were identical. Finally after politely answering most people a simple "no, they're fraternal" we had some good friends ask us the question. We laughed at him.
Then we told him it's impossible to have boy/girl twins that are identical simply because one is a boy and the other is a girl. Our friend tried to contradict us saying he had "read about it somewhere on the internet". We laughed at him again.
So to set the record straight in case any of you out there are wondering. It is absolutely 100% impossible for boy/girl twins to be identical. As an old math teacher of mine used to say "Come on people, it's not rocket science."
Weekend Reading 5.5.24
2 days ago
Guilty. I was one of those people that asked you that question. I remember because I remember thinking how dumb of a question that was as soon as it left my mouth and mostly I remember because of the look you gave me. It could have been the drugs but you were definitely disgusted with the fact that I had asked such a question. Well maybe not disgusted but a definite "uh, simone are you serious?"
ReplyDeleteLOLOLOL-ahhhh I will never forget that.
So you're saying they're NOT IDENTICAL??????
ReplyDeleteI think you should just resign yourself to the fact that you and your FRATERNAL twin children are going to hear that question until the end of time. There is always going to be "that guy" who either thinks they are both boys, or that they are identical. Man, you just can't win.
ReplyDeleteSimone, I do not even remember you asking that question!
ReplyDeleteLet's blame the look on the drugs!