One of a Kind - Not Exactly!

God so loved my dad, he decided to clone him. God said, "Let there be 2 of him, let them be identical, let them marry two women who are cousins, let them build houses right next door to each other, and let them both be perfect except for a little weird streak", and POOF my dad and his identical twin brother, Uncle Dick, were born January 24th, 1932.

Although they look the same, their personalities could not be more different. My Uncle Dick is very neat and dapper, every hair is in place. My dad doesn't brush his hair regularly, mom often reminds him, "Go brush your hair, you look like a rooster."

Uncle Dick dresses in nice clothes that actually fit him. He even tucks his shirts in and tops off his look with a belt. My dad, well, if you've read my previous posts, you are aware, my dads wardrobe consists of farmer jeans that are self-tailored and 3 sizes too big. Most of the time, he doesn't even bother to fasten the side buttons, so his farmer jeans just flap in the breeze.

My Uncle Dick's yard is perfect. Every blade of grass stands at attention and considers itself lucky to be in his yard. Uncle Dick works hard. The front of his house is landscaped beautifully. He has perfectly shaped bushes and gorgeous potted flowers which run the length of his house. In the backyard he has a gorgeous flower bed filled with plants he babysat and nurtured from seedlings in his basement. He definitely has a "green thumb". Weeds do not dare to grow in Uncle Dick's yard, he won't allow it. Then, there's his next door neighbors yard. My dad doesn't care about weeds. Matter of fact if he finds pretty weeds in his favorite fishing spots he brings them home and spreads them around his yard. The landscape in front of their house used to have little white stones. I know your thinking, that must have looked nice, and it would have, except my dad let us play in them. So the stone patch in front of our house was filled with Tonka trucks, shovels, pails, and other toys. He didn't mind a bit. His front lawn had brown warn spots all over it from all the neighborhood kids hanging in our yard. We used to play hide 'n seek, tag and all sorts of running games, but we kept the games contained to our yard. There were not many kids who were brave enough to hide in Uncle Dick's yard.

Uncle Dick is more serious, structured and he is definitely the Alpha-twin. My dad is easy-going, laid back, just a lovable clown. Through all their differences, they love each other. No one can make my Uncle Dick laugh the way my dad does and whenever my dad introduces his twin to anyone he always says, "this is my better half". More stories about the twins to come!