I've had plenty of experience with twins. At my dance studio, there were two sets in a single class. And then we had a few in school, too. In college I had a dual-crush on insanely gorgeous hockey player twins. (One was really sweet, the other was pretty aloof, though, so soon my crush was directed towards the nice one.) The Cat had several pairs in his old school and his current school has many, plus two of a set of triplets (the third is severely disabled so does not attend.) I've always been fascinated by twins - as many are - and eagerly studied them in psych class in both high school and college. Yes, I was actually disappointed both times the ultrasound showed a single embryo. (And yes, I know how incredibly sorry I'd be once I realized exactly what it meant to have two newborns.)
I've always been pretty good at telling twins apart. But this past soccer season has thrown me for a loop. The Cat has twins on his team, but it isn't their appearance that throws me, it is their names.
These two boys look nothing alike. But their names are exactly opposite of what I'd think they would be.
You see, I had an obsession with names, too. And so in my head, I have what people are "supposed" to look like if they have a given name. That is a fascinating psychology topic as well - what stereotypes people have about certain names, and about spelling of names.
If it were just a matter of a single boy having a name that didn't quite "fit" it wouldn't be a problem. I'd just learn the name and move on. I've met plenty of people who don't match their names, but in time I adjust my perception of the name to fit that person as well. But in the case of this pair of twins, their names would match the opposite twin. And so try as I might, I always call them by the wrong name.
It started out innocently enough, so I told myself, "It is the opposite of what you think." But the problem with that line of thought is that as I heard the boys being called their correct names, I started to associate the correct names with the boys, but then I'd think "opposite" and then revert back to the wrong names.
This wouldn't be such a big problem, except I'm the "team photographer" and created photobooks of each player. Time and time again, I'd write down the number of a picture under the wrong name, so would load a photo on a page devoted to the wrong twin. During the first round of creating the books, I mislabeled the cover of one boy's book. In blurb, the book for that player is actually called by the wrong name, even though I corrected the title on the actual book.
I admit going over the books again and again for fear that I've made a mistake. I looked at them for the bazillion-fiftieth time this morning and they looked fine. The boys will receive them on Sunday, and I'm holding my breath that the twins won't exclaim, "Hey, that's not me!"
