When our oldest son married, we gained a daughter-in-law and two beautiful three-year-old granddaughters. Fraternal twins, they differed in looks and personality. The week of their fourth birthday, Al and I took them out to eat for the first time without benefit of their parents. The server brought the requisite coloring book and crayons and took our orders. Both girls ordered the child’s shrimp plate. That was the last thing they did alike.
Since Brittany was quieter, I had assumed she would attach herself to Al, and I would chat with Lauren while we waited for our food. They had other ideas. Lauren took a couple of swipes at the coloring book before she abandoned it to barrage Al with questions about where people were going, what they were doing, and how each piece of equipment was used. Assuming Brittany needed company, I chatted with her while she meticulously colored every blank space in her book. I thought we were getting along famously until she sighed, looked up at me, and said, “If you don’t quit talking to me, I’m never going to finish my work.”
On Friday, they graduate from Northern Arizona University. Nothing has changed, and everything has changed. They are beautiful young women. What they have done alike is apply themselves academically and work hard schedules to help support themselves. Once again, that kind of finishes what they have done alike. Lauren has adventurous plans for seeing the world, camera in hand, with her photojournalism degree. Brittany will graduate with a degree in hotel management – and without doubt will get all her work done if she doesn’t have someone interrupting her.
You can see from the photograph that our son knows he got a bonus when he married their mother. She is not in the picture, as usual, because she is taking it. We celebrate their likenesses and their differences and are very proud of both.