The Carnies are Coming
I dread this weekend.
It's Twins Days.
Not that I don't love Twins. I know several pair and adore them all. But once a year, the rest of them come to my little town and take over parking lots, swimming pools, ball parks, picnic tables, streets, grocery stores. And that weekend has come.
It started on Tuesday. After working late, I headed for the park to walk off my frustration. At the other end of the trail the trucks were already setting up. No parking signs popped up like dandelions all along the street. And tonight, after getting home from work and heading directly for the grocery store there they all were, in the back of the parking lot, settin' up and partying.
Our little town is of course called Twinsburg because it was founded by twins of course, Moses and Aaron Wilcox, identical twins from Connecticut. This region actually was all part of the Connecticut Land Company, and our community was distinguished as Township five in the tenth land range of the Western Reserve. The Wilcox brothers purchased land in the area in 1819. However, the first person technically to survey and settle the area was a young boy from Millsville named Ethan Alling. I do not likely need to point out that young Master Alling was a singleton.
Nonetheless my kids always get a kick out of seeing multiples everywhere. My daughters two best little friends are twins, and they'll be sharing a birthday bash with my daughter at the end of the weekend. We may walk down to the parade this year. It's an odd little claim to fame but people all over the country seem to know where we are because they know someone who hangs out at the festival.
Ethan Alling is not to be confused with Ethan Allen, a hero of the Revolution who claimed Vermont as home but who also was born in Connecticut. I've always thought this tune, The Land That I Call Home, was really lovely. It's performed by Front Range and is featured on the Sugar Hill Retrospective album. I love the bands sweet, smooth harmonies and the song's lilting folk style. Hope you enjoy it as it takes you back to a time before there were Hummers and highways and parking lots and utility bills. Then again, they didn't have indoor plumbing either, which I'll be grateful for when I get home tomorrow morning from my 5:45 a.m. workout, squeezing it in before everyone starts seeing double.
3 Comments:
Okay, every year I wonder this and since you live there, you can probably answer. What are my chances of going out there for twins day and hooking up with a pair of cute twins? Or do the twins just sort of hook up with each other?
Also, a less important question, why does the media cover this every single year as if it is a news story? It happens every year. We all know by now. By definition it is not NEWS.
Just askin' is all.
Twinsburg, taking after Rome in being founded by a couple of twins. At least yours weren't raised by wolves.
Are you all celebrating the new Jolie-Pitts, or do they have to be identical?
Well Don, there's no harm in trying. Then again, there are lots of twin families so your options may be limited, like ours are when trying to find a place to eat. We tried to get away from the whole thing this evening but they followed us all the way into Macedonia. What's next?
Ew, Blue, you make an eerie point. Hm. What happened to Rome? I'm off to the bathhouse to ponder.
The Jolie-Pitts have not been mentioned, but they would still be welcome due to their twinsness. We do get lots of fraternals, and both sets of kid twins I know are fraternals -- one set of girls and one set of girl-boy, the latter born on my daughter's birthday six years ago!
I am here to tell you all, however, that I'm glad I had mine one at a time. I can't imagine the "What ifs?" times TWO!
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