Identical Twin Cousins

For a trip down memory lane click here "The Patty Duke Show" which was a popular TV program in the mid-60's , about "identical cousins" and the mischief they got into.

Who knew that there could really be "identical cousins" in real life !

Though I have quite a few cousins, my cousin Carol and I have a special bond. We share a zany sense of humour, and a refusal not just to grow old, but to grow UP. What's more, we look alike. Case in point, while travelling around Saskatchewan with Carol's sister Barb, we dropped into a small-town restaurant where I was promptly mistaken for Carol who had been there recently.

Thanks to the advent of the inter-web, though we live several provinces apart, Carol and I have developed a much closer relationship over the last few years.

Carol puts her nose to the grindstone.

At some point in our e-correspondences we started signing our messages, "Identical (Twin) Cousin", which due to shared laziness, we shortened to "ITC"

Still, we had to differentiate our sign-offs. Carol became "ITC-1" and I become "ITC-too", because "two" was far too obvious.

Carol, reflected in the mirror.

I'd been planning my Saskatoon trip with Carol for several months, when the issue of getting tattoos while I was in town came up. Was Carol interested ? Was she ? HELL YEAH ! As a graphic artist she even designed them.

So, on a drizzly Wednesday morning we went to "Half Evil - 333" tattoo parlour to get 'er done.

Carol went first.

She was cool as a cucumber while hers was getting done: while during my turn I sat with a carefully fixed smile with white-knuckled hands clenched tightly on my lap.

Afterward, we were directed to soak the "tatts" -- that's what us hip young folk call 'em -- for a bit and then oil them when they needed it.