Two Girls, One Body

Earlier this week I sorted through a bunch of boxes of books in the basement. They've been sitting in storage ever since we remodeled the house seven years ago. Yeah. It was definitely time.

I managed to reduce the pile to about half of what it was, from 16-or-so boxes down to 8-ish. We donated most of the discards to Deseret Industries. A few pamphlets & contents of spiral binders went into the recycling bin.

In between boxes I painted an unfinished bookshelf with two coats of glossy white. I'm waiting another day or so for the paint to cure really well, and then I'll move the last of the saved books upstairs, so we can enjoy them again.

Near the bottom of one of the last boxes, I discovered a couple of historic Oregonian newspaper issues--events like September 11, 2001 and President Obama's election--and an old issue of Life magazine.

The story of conjoined twins, Abbigail and Brittany Hensel, haunted me when I read it. I couldn't bring myself to toss the magazine. I've wondered about them from time to time ever since reading their story. Were they still alive? How old were they? How were they doing?

Since reading about Abby and Brittany, two sets of twin grandchildren (identical girls and fraternal boy-girl) have joined our family. My first husband is an identical twin. It is fascinating to me to watch my twin grandchildren grow and develop in ways that are both unique and also uncannily "connected."

Imagine my surprise when, just four days after rediscovering that old issue of Life magazine, I ran across this headline on Yahoo.

If you haven't already seen the headline and watched their video, I recommend checking it out. The girls are 22 now. They drive a car and ride a bike. They have graduated from college. They have vibrant personalities. And they're going to star in a reality TV show.

I've never been a fan of reality TV, but these girls certainly arouse my curiosity. I might even be convinced to watch some of their episodes.




What do you think? Do these girls inspire you and make you curious, too? Or am I being nosy and morbid?