Twelve Steps To Marriage

Step One.  Alison

Born a fraternal twin I had as intimate a relationship that a human being can have with another, two strapping "feti" (fetuses) sharing the womb of our mother. As such I developed an appreciation for the companionship of the opposite sex from day one. It would take fifty years and twelve significant relationships before I was to marry and finally  re-secure the intimate companionship I had known from the start.

Growing up in High School there were four sets  of  twin's I was aware of. Based on what I know from these examples it's better to be a fraternal twin than an identical twin, and for a lot of reasons. Obviously if you really are identical, people can't tell you apart and how annoying is that......and the need to dress identical twins alike is Universal.....and then that whole identity thing...

Being a fraternal twin is different....not that we weren't dressed alike ....we were for a couple of years there...
but you get to watch, learn and appreciate how the other sex operates. At times my sister and I were extremely competitive......from day one we butted head to head and shoulder to shoulder ..... We stepped out into the real world five minutes apart. Ladies First of course.

The earliest film that was taken shows us constantly pushing each other around....she always won her way though....always got the last licks..While I was being protective, caring, and concerned,  she was being  calculating, coy and crafty...

No wonder I developed a need early on to be around strong,  independent, assertive women.

We took Baths together untill we were six........
We went to Day Camp untill we were  twelve
We went to Sleep-Away Camp together untill we were sixteen......
We went thru Elementary, Junior & Senior High School .......
Together untill we were eighteen....

We went off to college and than ............

that was it........

it was over!

She went West and I stayed East .......and.....

I "Flew over the Cukoo's Nest"...................

Looking for a replacement companion......

Someone I could be as close to as my fraternal twin".

It was a next to  an impossible task. Because my twin sister was a FORCE in her own right ,  The ultimate "TomBoy" Alison earned her degree  from the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse  and has spent the last 25 years "Fighting Forest Fires" for the State of Washington, one of the few women in her field.

As a kid we had watched that T.V. show,  "Here Come The Brides", about a group of women brought out West to serve as brides for the men working the local mountain. You know "the bluest skys you ever saw in Seattle". Well my sister bought it hook, line and sinker. She went "Out West" early, found her Mountain Man, and pursued a life in Forestry. She lives on Puget Sound in a beautiful Homestead on a Tidal Plane that brings in crabs, lobsters, and clams. Bald eagles fly by all day long.....There are seals in the harbor.......

We don't speak much, in fact we don't speak at all........last time was at the wedding....

                        
but there is more than a continent that now seperates us.....much much more!