Now I Know We're Related

Anyone who knows my sister and I knows how vastly different we are.  I think it's a form of subconscious rebellion we've undertaken against our parents who insisted on dressing us alike when we were little.  There is a picture of us both in these frilly red dresses going to church (a sad, sad relic that serves to remind us of the fashion horrors committed in the '80s).  Even more distressing is the memory I have of at least three people coming up to us during church as asking us if we were twins (even though these people knew our family and knew full well that my sister and I are two years apart in age thankyouverymuch).

However, now that we are older, we have developed our own interests that rarely (if ever) cross paths.  Even with one interest we have in common - cheering for University of Utah football - we don't participate in together.  This past Thanksgiving, for example, I went in one room to watch the Utah-byu game.  My sister was sitting in the room as well and asked me (rather pointedly) where I was going to be watching the game.  I shrugged, sat down said "In here."  She promptly got up and walked in the other TV room, citing that she cannot watch football games with me - I make her too nervous.  After she and my other sister left, my dad (who had been witness to this entire exchange and knows perfectly well how we sisters are) started laughing.  All I can say is thank heaven for multiple DirecTV receivers in the house.

I'm not upset about this at all.  Far from it - I've actually gotten some pretty funny stories out of encounters with my sister.  Siblings have every right and reason to be their own individual people.  Why would you want to be attached at the hip with your brothers and sisters for the rest of your life?  But we are so different that I have had people express surprise when they find out that she is my sister. 

This brings me to my point in writing this.  In the course of announcing that she and my brother-in-law are expecting, my sister posted to her blog one of the funniest versions of someone announcing their pregnancy I've encountered online.  Her post also serves the dual purpose of confirming to me that my sister and I indeed share common DNA because I agree with her wholeheartedly.