I have a twin brother, but no other sisters or brothers. Our mother suffered from “hyperemesis gravitates” during pregnancy. She  had been very ill and had to be spoon fed at the hospital. I longed for a younger sibling, but she explained that she couldn’t have another child.

Our first spring

My twin-brother and I

Ruth’ birthday 1955

My twin-brother and I in 1966/67

My twin brother and I. A dress I made at the time 1966

My brother was the conscious and responsible one doing his homework while I was more spontaneous. We attended the same school and were in the same classes until college where he chose teaching and I chose nursing.

What a chore it was for me to remember to find the right classroom or to know exactly, what the teacher had said about homework!

In the following years we saw less of each other,  but strangely there have been some unusual coincidences.

At our fathers birthday party in 1987, we both came dressed in the same bright white and turquoise colours.

My brother and I at our childhood home in 1987

My brother his wife, me and my children in 1987

Twice we bought the same kind of car within a week without having talked about it. Mind you his car was more expensive. Where we differ is that I have four children and he has none.

Then this summer we realized that we both suffered from a bad right shoulder while travelling on our holiday. Lately, he has taken up running, ten years after me pulling on my training shoes.

Such things can’t be explained… perhaps they are coincidences. But I like to think it’s because we are still close.

One day I will thank him for saving my life twice in my early twenties.