We were always a normal family. Normal! I don't even know what that means any more. My parents are young. Daddy got Mom knocked up on prom night, so the story goes. They are both 39. Lisa, my twin sister and I are 21. Our younger brother, Robert is 19. Lisa and I are identical twins who look exactly alike except for a birthmark that I have on my hip. Daddy has the same mark on his hip it looks like the map of Africa.
When I said that we were normal, what I meant was boring. Mom is a housewife and Daddy is a night auditor at a bank. He goes to work in the evenings around 6:00 and is gone all night on most nights. We take family vacations twice a year once in the summer and once around Christmas. While it was always nice to get away with family it was also predictable and, well, boring.
You know how twins are just alike, always finishing each others sentences and stuff like that. Well it was never like that with Lisa and me. We could not have been more different. Mom called us her opposite twins. We never dressed alike because our tastes in clothes were so different. Lisa was a bit of a tomboy while I... well let's just say I liked to celebrate my curves. I loved to drive the boys wild and in high school I had a bit of a reputation for being a tease. I was 20 when I lost my virginity but that's not what this story is about.
This story is about the day my family was turned upside down. It was around a month before our 21st birthday when I noticed that Mom had been acting strange. Nothing overt but she just seem to be anxious. She kept looking at me smiling and she seemed to making a really big deal about our birthday.
One Saturday she came in my room, "Leslie, your father and I really want your 21st birthday to be special. We want to give you and Lisa a day you will never forget."
"Thanks Mom, but really its no big deal, just another birthday."
"It's not just another day, it the day you become a woman"
"Uh, Mom... I'm already a woman."
"I know, but next month you will be legal. I know I am just making a big deal of nothing but there a so few milestones left for you and Lisa and I just want you guys to have special memories."
Mom sat on the bed next to me as she said this. I noticed her melodrama swelling up in her and I did not want her to be disappointed so I put my ipod down and slid next to her on the bed.
Giving her a big hug I said, "Mom, every day with you and Daddy is special. We are the luckiest kids in the world." I kissed her cheek as I asked, "So what have you with planned for me and Lisa on the big day?"
"Oh, no. I am not telling, just know that It will be a day like non other that you have ever had. Call a couple of your girl friends and tell them that they should save the date for that evening. That's all I'm saying"
With that she bounced out of the room swaying her hips and feeling good again. I liked seeing her happy. She stopped at the door and gave me a big smile and blew me a kiss as she disappeared down the hall.
It took forever for our birthday to come. Mom kept bringing up the day and asking which of our friends were coming. Lisa and I could not figure out what had gotten into her. Lisa invited her friend Paula and I had invited Jessie and Tanya. Tomorrow was our birthday and tonight I could not fall asleep for anything. I guess Mom was getting me more excited then I thought.
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I couldn't believe that my babies were growing up so fast. It seems like just yesterday when Dave and I were getting married. I walked down the isle with my belly swollen from being 7 months pregnant with twins no less. It was quite an adjustment for us. We had to grow up so quickly. But Dave never missed a beat. He went right out, got a job and started to take care of his responsibilities. He was my hero. Insisting that I would not have to work unless I wanted to. Sure there were times when we struggled but Dave always found a way to pull it together. And by the time Robert was born we were doing pretty well if I do say so myself.
And now Lisa and Leslie were going to be 21 and I have no idea where all the time went. Their birthday was still a couple of months away and I knew I wanted it to be special but what should we do?
"Dave, have you given any thought to the girls birthday?"
" Not really, its still a ways off yet."
"Maybe, but September will be here before you know it and we should at least have a plan. I want it to be special for the girls."
" Well, do you have any ideas?"
"I was thinking that we throw them a big surprise party with all of their friends."
"Surprise party? That may not be such a good idea. It was different when they were in high school and we knew all of their friends. But things are more complicated then that now."
"I know!" the idea hit me straight out of the blue. I am not sure why, but it immediately felt like the perfect plan. "We can put together a girls night out. They can get a couple of their friends together for a night on the town that ends at club Drama."
"Drama!, You want to send our girls to Drama!"
"They are grown now, they can handle it."