My parents were great. They had 5 kids prior to the double trouble mistakes. They started off with 4 boys. The one thing my mother wanted was her baby girl; well she was the fifth child. My clone and I were not on the planned list. So, we kind of came as a surprise. My mother told me years later that we looked like two wet puppies when we were born. That was one thing I always appreciated about my mother was that she was always so honest.  My Father on the other hand was lost. I think my father realized that my mother had twins about a month later. My mom told me that when my dad left the hospital after we were born that he gave Jesse a kiss on the forehead and proceeded to walk out. My mother stopped him and said, “May Murphy, you not going to kiss the other one?” “May they the same thing, I kissed one of them”, was my father’s reply. Till this day I still don’t know if he kissed me.
                My father had a really hard time telling us apart. He worked most of his career on a tugboat. His schedule was 28 days on 14 days off, so he was not around much. When he was home he had no clue of who was who. I think he even had trouble telling apart the older brother’s as well. I remember when I was 6 years old, and both Jesse and I had a cold. We were running around the house and my poor father was trying to give us cold medicine. My mom came into the kitchen and asked my dad, “What is wrong, why are you just standing there?” All he could say was, “Well, I gave one of them some medicine, but I don’t know which one.” Poor fellow, till this day he still cannot tell us apart. If one of us did something wrong and deserved a spanking, well guess what we both got it. So we had to keep each other in line.
                My mother on the other hand could tell us apart with her eyes closed. My mother loved to pick on us. I remember her telling us that we were adopted from a garbage man. I believed her, as a child. It was years later that she realized that I thought she was telling the truth. I think she cried and apologized. My mother was very entertaining. She spoke her mind freely, but she also took pleasure in ribbing people. She loved having fun. She made her fair share of mistakes as well. I could remember her leaving my brother and me in grocery stores. We would enjoy browsing at the magazines and comic books, while she did the shopping. Half way home she would notice how quite the ride has been, and realize, “Oh crap, where are the twins.” She always had a lot on her mind raising 7 children. Our childhood was great, lots of stories to share.