What I loved about Twins (besides the long-hair cover, which I swooned for) was how incredibly raw and vulnerable the book was. Such an unguarded view of the raging sorrow and desperate hope of teenaged life.

And certainly, what we are doomed to repeat in adulthood if we don’t find someone who believes in us, teaches us to trust ourselves, and how to face our failure with grace.

I personally think that females in general are exceptionally cruel creatures to one another. Guys fight a good clean fight. All matters are settled with a punch in the face, a few shirts ripped, then a handshake from the winner to the loser, a slap on the back, and it’s done.

Done.

Girls hurt one another relationally. Never willing to share that they were hurt or vulnerable, they instead go after the emotional jugular and slay their opponents with sleek knives of social disdain.

I remember a girl in school who hated my guts over some unknown slight. One day in the washroom, she said to me, in front of everyone, “You fat fucking cow.”
As I huddled in a stall, I heard her friend say to her, “she’s not fat at all!”
Her response? “Nope, but that will stick with her for the rest of her life.”

Case.in.point.

(Not to seem holier than thou, I must admit to having a sweet sense of schadenfreude ten years later, seeing them both in a mall… both dreadfully overweight.)

(evil, yes.)

Lance (and Marcy) – I borrowed a book once that had chocolate on the pages. It’s different when it’s not your own sticky fingers.

Robin – You’ll read lots about unicycles in the book. I laughed so hard when I saw that photo, just imagining the guts it took to be so different from everyone else.

Claire – Isn’t that a gorgeous photo?

Lauren – I owe you a note. I’m about 200 emails deep today and promise I’ll dig out by tomorrow.

Myf – That’s the story that lasted most with me, too. Watching all her friends in the row ahead.

Jolene – Great book blurb for Marcy to stick on her site.

Pia – I can imagine you learning to ride a unicycle, but I know I’d give up because getting started would be too hard.

Aurelio – That is the FUNNIEST picture!!

Kirk – I was glad to know the unicycle was real, too. (The janitor friend is mine, though.)

Carolyn – That sounds like the beginning of a story you need to write.

Marcy – Here’s to gratifying, mortifying fun! xo!

Sarah – See, this is why we like you so much!

Noria – I love that analogy and that quote.

Kat – What a sweetheart. Thank you.

The unicycle was really hard to learn. I was bruised for an entire summer. I got to put that first hand knowledge right into TWINS.

That picture by Aurelio cracked me up when he left it in a comment on MySpace months ago and I laughed again seeing it here. Thanks Jolene, so nice, and Pia, just for having a copy of my book, and Claire and Lance and Kirk and Carolyn and MyFanwy Collins…what is this..an Oscar speech. I usually don’t leave long comments on blogs. They make me nervous.

I just found out that my mother still has that pearl necklace which we bought in a junk store in a ghost town in New Mexico somewhere outside of Sante Fe.

My best friend after HS was an identical twin. Just past 50 now, they have finally grown into different skins, a result of the bruises, scars, and joys they’ve endured.