Don't Mess with the Redhead Twins

So if you think one redhead has a firey temper, try two! One sunny day on our way to highschool, we were cruzing in our cute little burgundy Toyota Tercel (with a front license plate that read "Twin Brats"). Now if you know morning traffic in Bartlett around Bartlett Blvd. and Sycamore View Road, you know that the far right lane ends and turns into a right hand turn only lane and thus makes for a very long line of cars in the lane next to the right turn only lane. Well one morning this twerp decides he is going to cut Janet off in the intersection instead of getting behind the cars in line to go straight (he is in the right turn only lane). She of course throws on her breaks to let the fool in; not that she had much of a choice. But woo is me, because when we got to the school parking lot, he not only had one hot redhead to deal with but two! We were so mad at him that we pulled our car right in behind his car, jumped out and chewed him a new butt hole for cutting us off. Janet had the poor guy leaning all the way in his car because she was so in his face. The funniest part was that when we got up the big hill (all you Bartlett High people know what I'm referring to), everybody was like we could hear you guys going off on that guy all the way up here. Way up here being the length of a football field.

I think Janet still has this reputation on the soccer field to this day! I tell everybody I'm the sweet one and she's the mean one! Well, maybe that's not entirely true...I do remember hitting my sister because she woke me up from a nap to unlock the front door for her, hitting Teddy Pickett with a school book because he kept picking on me (went to the Principal's office over that one), kicking our neighbor Christopher in his privates because he kept making fun of me at a basketball game (literally he went up to make a shot and I kicked him - he laid on the ground crying for about 5 minutes) and finally taking a bat over to Joesph and Jason's house to beat them up because we thought they killed our dog. So maybe we aren't always sweet.

"Jaime is that You"

As Jaime stated previously in her last post about University of Memphis, people were always getting us confused and I'm not sure how since Jaime had already graduated and I had started back full time 2 years later and I was a Biology major and she was Political Science major. Anyways, somehow we always ran into people that thought I was her or she was me. One day it payed off to be Jaime though. I was running late one day for my Biology class and I saw my opportunity to park close to the school so that I wouldn't be late for class. Of course this was nice, close parking space unfortunately with a "No Parking" sign but other cars were there and so I felt, surely it would be ok for me as well. I could have cared less about one of those stupid U of M security personnel cops giving me one of their $25 parking tickets. So I went to class and I made it to class on time and thought, this is awesome. It was nice not to have to park 2 miles away. My happiness was only short lived though. As I was walking out to my car to go home for the day, there was a Memphis POLICE OFFICER there by my car. Ok not one of U of M's security idiots. I thought to myself, oh no, how am I going to beg and plead not to get a ticket. So I walked up to the officer and said "hello, guess I'm getting a ticket". He said, "yes mam, you know this is a NO PARKING area, surely since there is a sign right there". "Uh, yes sir, I do". Then he turned around and started to hand me the ticket and said "Jaime, is that you?" "Uh why hello there," I said. "Oh my goodness, it has been awhile since I have seen you". Now I'm trying to figure out his name and looking at his badge. I said, "I'm sorry I parked here, I was running late for my class and I had an exam in that class" and he said, "give me that back" and he tore up the ticket. "Oh you are so sweet" and I gave him a hug. "Jaime, don't let me catch you parking here again". "Yes sir"...I never knew the police officers name, but Jaime came to my rescue she didn't even do anything. I don't think Jaime ever figured out who it was even after I described what the police officer looked like, but I was so glad to have a twin that day!!! I'm thinking I haven't helped Jaime out much but she sure has helped me a lot.

Twins in the same classroom

So when Janet and I were growing up, they didn't put twins together in the same classrooms. The only class my sister and I ever shared was Algebra in 9th grade and the only reason we ended up in there together was because Janet and Ms. Bell hated each other and she gave Janet her first F! Mom was furious to say the least. She went straight to Mr. Thomas and had him move Janet to my class. (Janet you will have to tell the story of mom and Ms. Bell in another post!)

So when Taylor started elementary school I was amazed to see that he had twins in his 2nd grade class. The parents requested that the twins be together and not separated so that they had each other as friends (this is coming straight from the horses mouth). I have to totally disagree here.

My sister and I have always wanted people to see us as two individuals since that is in fact what we are. We are not one person. I'm glad my mom didn't request us to be in the same class because we made our own friends, developed our own personalities and didn't depend on each other. She gave us our independence. I'm convinced it should not be acceptable for parents of twins to ask that their twins be in the same class for this reason.

That's not to say you pick on one twin, the other one isn't going to kick your butt!

U of M days!

You know one of the nicest things about going to the University of South Alabama was that NOBODY ever got me confused with Janet. I can't tell you how many puzzled faces I would get from people who had obviously crossed paths with my sister on the other side of the U of M campus. The only reason I finally figured out why I was getting so many crazy stares is that one guy stopped me and said, "didn't I just pass you by the UC?" I was like, no, but you might have seen my sister! "Ohhhhhhh, I thought I was losing my mind because I didn't know how you could have possibly been in two different places so quickly." DUHHHHHH, never seemed to cross these peoples mind that I was not pulling a Houdini trick, but rather I was a twin who went to the same school with my sister? :0)

Switch-A-Roo in Drama Class

The one question we have received over the years is...did you guys ever switch classes and the answer to that question is YES. My senior year I had to take an elective and the only stupid class that was considered easy was Drama. Jaime convinced me that she had already taken it and that it was an "easy smeasy" class. I don't know why I ever listened to her about that and why I even thought that was a good combination for me, but it was HORRID. I hated drama class and Jaime (if any of you guys know her then you know she is the DRAMA QUEEN in the family) loved it. I always thought Jaime was a little weird (just kidding sissy, you know I love you). Anyways, back to the story, Jaime agreed to do my drama class if I would do one of her classes. I can't remember for the life of me what class it was, but anything would have been better than that class. Jaime went to my drama class that afternoon because I had to stand up in class and do a scene. I was going home sick if she didn't do it for me. Anyways, Jaime was a success and I received an "A". I don't know if anyone ever figured it out that day, but it did ALLOW me not to have to stand up in class and act. By the way, thanks Jaime. I don't know if I ever thanked you for that brief moment away from that horrid class. In in this instance, it was AWESOME to have an identical twin sister.

Coincidence, I Think Not!

So as I stated in my first post, my dad is an identical twin too, Larry and Barry. They are only two minutes apart. What is very unique is that I and my Uncle Barry have the exact same birthmark on the same leg and if I'm not mistaken, my sister and my dad have the exact same birthmark on their leg. Supposed my uncle is the first born of the two and I'm the first born of the two. So is this a coincidence?

Picture: the two little boys that are in the plaid shirts are my dad and his twin brother Barry. Don't ask me which one is which!

Can I Borrow Your License Jaime?

I'm sure my parents will remember this funny story even though Jaime didn't think it was very funny at the time but she laughs about it now. One night when my sister and I were heading back to Union University (this is when we were 16) I was speeding along the interstate when I saw those horrible blue lights go off (nothing has changed by the way, just able to get out of most tickets now days). I reached back for my purse to retrieve my license when I realized I must have left my purse either back at home or in the dorm...not good. I looked over at Jaime and said "I need your license, I don't have mine". She said "NO". I said "I don't want to get arrested, you don't want me to go to jail, now do you". Of course Jaime was weighing her options because I was going to kill her if she didn't help me out. So I handed the officer my sister's license and proceeded to receive a darn ticket. Once we were back on the road, Jaime informs me that I need to tell our parents and that I need to get this ticket off her record. WHAT!! NO WAY...I didn't want to tell my parents. That would mean I would get grounded and lose my privileges of driving the car. Then Jaime said, "if you don't, I will"...what was I to do except accept my punishment and tell my parents. Now here's the part that made me really mad. My dad (Mike) told me I would have to go to court in that district, which was Brownsville, and pay the court fees and try to get the ticket thrown out. Just great, I thought. Mike took me up to the courthouse in Brownsville and I'm sitting on the pew waiting for the judge to call my name when Mike jabs with his elbow and says they are calling your SISTERS NAME...Oh yeah...ooppsss...I forgot, I was Jaime and not me. I wasn't listening for Jaime's name, I was waiting for the name Janet Arnold. I thought I was going to blow it, but I did end up standing there and taking my tongue lashing from the judge and I paid the bill. Of course I was grounded and I wasn't allowed to drive the car for two weeks too. So as you see, sometimes it's nice to have twin and other times, it just doesn't pay to use her driver's license. It was more trouble than it helped me....