Have
you ever noticed how the vehicles you see the most on the road are the same
color or same make and model of your car? If you are thinking about young
children, or have them in your life, you are more likely to notice them around
you. The same goes for say, handicaps, or eye color. Really, anything close to
you could be a focus for what you notice in the world. Your focus affects what
you perceive the most.
For
example, when I drive around in my car I happened to notice a lot of white cars
or Chevrolet Cruzes. Guess what my car is. I’m also seeing children under the
age of one in large numbers. Do you want to guess why?
Do
you want to guess why we both notice twins?
Here
are some facts.
The
only multiple births in our area the week we were born were the two of us. When
we were in high school and the local paper wanted to do a story on twins, there
were only two sets in our high school and a total of four in the two local high
schools. (The one set in our high school were fraternal, boy and girl set.)
We’ve
been in the newspaper an additional time because we’re at least the fifth
generation straight in our mother’s family who were twins.
One
time a stranger in the park where we were holding our Great Grandfather’s
family reunion thought it was a twin convention. (One, this is our father’s
side of the family. Two, I wasn’t even there. Bonnie was though.) We have a
family picture, taken by our father, with at least four sets of identical twins
in it. Only one set is boys. Three sets were dad’s cousins. The youngest set was
Bonnie and me.
The
last large reunion (Great, Great Grandpa’s family) I went to I counted at least
half a dozen sets in attendance and knew of at least that many more not there
or not both of them were there, us included, Bonnie wasn’t there.
You
can see why we notice twins, all the time.
That’s
why I noticed the senior lady pushing her double in a wheelchair when I was out
shopping. That’s why I regularly spot twins when I’m out, usually kids with
their parents. I think the senior ladies are the only time I’ve spotted adult
twins. However, I have seen more than one video on Facebook showing a young
child’s reaction to meeting their parent’s twin. (I so which we had videos of
such events in our life.)
I’ve
even noticed when people I know had twin grandchildren.
Recently
a co-worker and I were talking about multiples. He has multiple sets in his
family tree, though in his family it skipped a generation. He was, like so many
people, assuming that old wives' tale was true. (Obviously not if you look at
our family tree.)
He
mentioned all the sets in his family. I believe it was three sets.
Without
even knowing all the twins in my family by name, I can come up with that many
in one generation on dad’s side of the family, and Bonnie and I are the fifth
generation on our mom’s side.
I
only mentioned to him that I was a twin too.
He
commented that twins are becoming more and more common.
Yes,
they are. Now if someone wanted to do an article on twins they could find more
than four in two high schools. Look it up. New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois has a
graduating 2020 class with 44 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets. (twin article)
There
are more multiples in the world today. At least one reason for it is fertility
treatments. Another reason is health care. I’m sure there are a number of twins
today who would not have survived birth 50 years ago. I’m also sure that 50
years ago it was far more common for mothers to lose one baby and still be
pregnant. Today they are more likely to be able to save both babies.
Therefore,
there are more multiples today than there were even 30 years ago. However, it’s
also true having multiples in your family is going to focus you on noticing
them more than someone else might.
I
see them everywhere and just have to smile when I do.
Smile.
Make the day a brighter day.
