Do You Get It?

There is something special about being a parent of twins.  Not that being a parent isn't an amazing thing, whether you have one child, seven, or two at once.  I have been fortunate to have one baby followed three years later, by the birth of two, at once. 

I will say, twins are hard. One baby is hard.  Two is hard. Very hard. Imagine feeding two at once, changing two at once, bathing two at once, and be awoken by one - to get it back asleep -  to be awoken by the other 45 minutes later.  H-A-R-D.  I am literally exhausted most of the time.  

But, life goes on... and we go to the store, go run, and do our thing. Not a moment goes by that people don't stop to marvel or stare... some look bewildered, shocked, or even horrified. Others ooh and goo at the sight of two babies and Ava.  Others stop to comment on how their neighbor had twins, their cousin, or preacher... and what a blessing/hardship/life changer that was for the family they are talking about. 

Yesterday we ran into a friend of my parents... a father of twins, Jody.  We briefly spoke with Jody, made some jokes about twins, and quietly stood and smiled at the children.  Jody knows about how the first six months are a haze. How you never sleep, how you barely get time with your spouse, and how going out and about is a chore... he knows. I told Jody that for the first time, on this day, (remember the twins are now 10 months old) we went out as a family and ate. All five of us.  He looked amazed.  Jody knows how hard it really is but he also knows how wonderful it is.  So we stayed in the aisle of the grocery store marveling at the twins, laughing about his, and remarking on all of our futures. The encounter lasted five minutes... I think we all stopped and sighed for those moments and took some deep breaths. (I think we share that constant panic... fight or flight behavior...)

I can relate to parents of twins as they can to me, and our unique situation.  We don't have an official club and yet we do have an unwritten club.  A club that stops at the grocery store, encourages each other, and takes a few minutes to breathe... silently... because we know it will be a long time before someone else truly gets it!