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String Theory Twins

We got home from being out and walked upstairs to discover that while we had lights in our hallway and a random corner of our bedroom, all the other electrical sockets were no longer working.  Josh tried resetting the… well, I was going to try to sound as if I knew what the hell I was talking about, but I don’t.  I can’t even pretend.  Josh tried doing whatever one does when they have no electricity, but it wasn’t working.  So he called our electrician, a fantastic guy with infinite amounts of patience who is willing to come on evenings and weekends.  See, I told you he’s fantastic; he didn’t even roll his eyes when I went and purchased a light fixture a few months ago that totally didn’t fit his very detailed specifications. (He thought that by being specific, I could do this task correctly.  But he was wrong.)

But our massively fantastic electrician was in West Virginia on holiday.  No worries, he told Josh.  He’s an electrician who happens to know a lot of other electricians.  He gave us the name and number of someone he knew was still in town.  Fabulous.  Josh left a message.  And the guy never called us back.  He tried him again.  And then we looked at each other and said, “what are we going to do?”

Because we kind of sort of had a night light crisis on our hands as the sky darkened.

So Josh went on our town listserv and found the name of a guy that someone else recommended.  So we called him, and he was really nice and sympathetic, but he told us that he couldn’t help us because it was now night and he had two eight-year-olds and his wife was on a trip.

Um, but then you understand about the night light situation (he did), and since we also have eight-year-old twins, would your boy-girl twins like a play date with our boy-girl twins while you pretty please fix our electricity?  He said he’d run the idea by his kids, so we turned to our twins and asked them if they’d want to meet another set of boy-girl twins and hang out together tonight.

The ChickieNob ran through the kitchen shrieking, “Eight-year-old boy-girl twins that we don’t know yet from the same town… could they be a string theory copy of us*?”

Which meant hells yeah.

So the guy came over with his twins, and his twins met our twins.  And they were more like a replica of our twins rather than anti-twins.  The two boys had similar personalities and liked the same activities.  The two girls had similar personalities and liked the same activities.  So while the dad worked, the four kids went into a toy frenzy.  They played together for a bit, and then separated out into boys and girls.  The dad had to run home to get some part, and the kids kept playing.  And then the dad was done, but the kids sort of kept playing.  And finally, they were lured away with the promise that they could watch their favourite television show at home.  So our twins had to say goodbye to his twins, though we made plans to get the kids together in the future for more play dates, even without electrical problems.

So we now have electricity again.  And a new set of friends.  And a new electrician.  Totally random how life works.

* I run a book club for 16 second graders, and one of the books we were reading mentioned the idea of other dimensions.  So I explained string theory as well as the concept of anti-matter to the kids, which blew their little second grade minds.  The ChickieNob keeps asking me how she can know whether she is the ChickieNob or the Anti-ChickieNob.  She suspects she may be anti-matter.

18 comments

1 Chickenpig { 04.02.13 at 8:51 am }

That is so COOL. All of it…the new electrician, the twin friends, the string theory. Our plumber has a set of identical twin boys that are about 6 months younger than ours, but they have never met. Maybe it is one of those things where some twins shouldn’t be in the same room as each other or the Universe will implode? Well…now we know that if the Universe stops working it is ALL Mel and Josh’s fault.

2 Catwoman73 { 04.02.13 at 10:02 am }

I LOVE this! You randomly have an electrical problem, and end up making a new friend with a family so similar to your own… stuff like this totally makes me think that maybe the universe does put us in unpleasant situations with a greater purpose in mind. Awesome! 🙂

3 a { 04.02.13 at 10:20 am }

It’s funny how life works sometimes…

4 Ana { 04.02.13 at 11:06 am }

I super duper LOVE this story, it made me happy. I love when the universe brings kindred spirits together in unexpected ways! Also love that your kids understand string theory better than I do (can you explain it to me on a 2nd grade level??)

5 Lollipop Goldstein { 04.02.13 at 11:10 am }

It’s not string theory, but CERN has a great part of their site for kids: http://livefromcern.web.cern.ch/livefromcern/antimatter/kids/AM-kids01.html

6 Mary { 04.02.13 at 11:38 am }

I totally understand the nightlight thing! I don’t have twins, but that would ruin a night for us as well. Ever since we went camping last summer, I use glow sticks for nightlights. The kids love them! I buy the packs of bracelets and they get a glowstick every night. No electricity necessary. 🙂

7 Amy { 04.02.13 at 1:51 pm }

that is awesome!

8 Gail { 04.02.13 at 3:50 pm }

Glad you got a new electrician and playmates out of the night!

9 Lori Lavender Luz { 04.02.13 at 5:32 pm }

Amazing the way new friends can come into our lives.

10 talesofacautiousoptimist { 04.02.13 at 8:10 pm }

I love stories like this…you never know how friends may enter your life 🙂

Can you write a post about your book club for 2nd graders? It sounds like an amazing idea…I’d like to hear about the format, how you got started…the books you read and how you structure the meetings.

11 Magpie { 04.02.13 at 10:41 pm }

Utterly wonderful.

12 arete Aspirations { 04.03.13 at 12:18 am }

I LOVE THIS!

13 Kathy { 04.03.13 at 12:53 am }

I love that you run a book club for 2nd grade kids and this story of the fun that was had after you lost power! Add me to the list of people who are willing to admit I don’t know what string theory is… But am off to Google it. Also, if your kids and/or book club hasn’t read The Sixty-Eight Rooms series:

https://www.facebook.com/TheSixtyEightRooms

I bet they would love it! My nine year old son has read the first two and is anxiously awaiting the next due out this May! After you read it then you all can take a field trip to Chicago to the Art Institute, where much of the story takes place, and we’ll give you a tour of the Thorne Rooms! 🙂

14 Mina { 04.03.13 at 2:49 pm }

Serendipity in action! 🙂

I suspect this story is going to enter the series of stories about you that I talk about with my husband. One time we had friends over and were talking about dentists and I turned to my husband ‘Remember when Mel forgot about the tooth fairy for Wolvog?’ and started laughing and then I had to tell the story and explain who Mel is, and how she has this fantastic pair of twins, and so on. And my husband said ‘I know it sounds like she has an imaginary friend, but Mel is just virtual, I mean she is a real person, but we have never met, she has this blog and Mina tells me all kinds of stories…’ It did not sound weird at the time, but now, that I mention it, I realise they never came back to visit us again. They were boring anyway. 🙂

15 loribeth { 04.03.13 at 5:12 pm }

ROFL over Mina’s comment, above! 🙂 I agree, very cool. How nice to have made some new friends — and get your electrical problem solved too. Good tradespeople are worth their weight in gold.

16 sarah { 04.03.13 at 7:55 pm }

I love that you explained string theory to second graders – badass. And that your daughter wonders if she’s the anti-matter. (also, great story).

17 md { 04.04.13 at 2:01 am }

oh, what a wonderful story! and i like that i read your post a couple of days after taking my 7-month twins out to a park with another set of twins from the same neighborhood, whose mom also shares my name! the universe really does work in strange and wondrous ways.

18 Battynurse { 04.06.13 at 7:00 pm }

Very cool!

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