Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Bruno..you're an asshat!

It's been almost a year since I contacted Bruno Reversade, a scientist based out of Singapore, who was interviewed in the January 2012 National Geographic article about twins. He's been all over the world, swabbing the cheeks of every twin he can find. When I initially contacted him with my own twin story, asking him if he'd come across another one like ours, he immediately responded and forwarded me a picture of a set of male twins in the UK, who had fathered identical twins. He had not heard of any female id. twins who had each given birth to identical twins. He sounded quite excited about my story, and asked me if my family and I would participate in his study. I agreed, and asked him if he would pass on my contact info to the twins in the UK, and that I would love to talk to another set of twins who have shared our experience. He said he would pass on my info, and then requested that I do a pedigree, or a family tree, and list as many twins as I could find. I obliged, signed up to Geni.com (which costs an arm and a leg by the way). Sent him  my fine family tree, and then  never heard back from him again.
I emailed him a couple of weeks after I had sent out my hard work, wondering if he had ever gotten my email. Nothing. A couple of weeks after that, I sent him this:

"hey
not sure what's up.. maybe you ran out of cheek swabs? maybe my emails don't reach Singapore?? I have no idea..but it's kinda rude. I just wanted to get some contact info on that set of twins in the UK, the set of twins that I have been searching for for 5 years..soooo again, unless you're dead, which I suspect your not, could you reply either way? "

Maybe that's a little harsh, but still. RUDE! I have no idea why that assbag never got back in touch with me. I am a bit suspicious however, and I  know this sounds paranoid, but I believe it has to do with his current study on linking twins genetically and the male twins in the UK. There was an International Twin conference held in Italy last spring, and the fine doctor presented his male twins. I don't know what his presentation was about, but in my paranoid brain I've come up with the idea that he was trying to get funding, or an award for his continued work on proving that identical twins are somehow linked to genetics. Perhaps he's been focusing on the male genes and my story would just put a kibosh on his theory somehow. I don't know, it is rude either way. I have issues with being pushed aside, and blown off.. can't help it. I can only hope that he's got a google alert for anything written about him. And if he does, then suck it Reversade!

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

It was a cold, fall night, and despite being grounded, I was about to head out to bring my older sister  some Motrin at work. Her cramps were awful, and I was more than obliged to take advantage of my mom attending one of her continuing ed. classes and sneak out. She would never know.  My boyfriend was more than willing to drive me to my sister's job, just so that he could have a minute or two alone with his sweetie.
We were leaving my house, when at the end of the driveway, he leaned over and kissed me. It was sweet, but if he hadn't, we would have avoided the accident we were about to get into about a mile up the road. He was driving his parents Chevy Celebrity, a Memere and Pepe car if there ever was one! We were rounding a corner, and that's when I saw the oncoming truck, taking a left and cutting right in front of us. I wasn't wearing a seat belt (the last time I ever made that decision) and I don't remember much more about the accident, except for a loud crash, breaking glass, then silence, then my name being shouted by my boyfriend. When I awoke from the crash, I was on the floor of the front seat. My side of the car was completely crushed in, as I felt pieces of tooth crumbling in my mouth, all I thought of was getting out of the car before it burst into flames. I had no idea if in fact it was gonna do that, but it always does in the movies, and at age 16, that was pretty much reality to me. It took all my strength to kick the door open, but somehow I did. I have never been so scared, in all my life. I was literally shaking. We were then met by the man who had hit us, assaulting us with questions about why we hadn't stopped..why did we just keep going.. Well, sir. We didn't stop, because there was no stop sign. Clearly, he was in the wrong, and we had witnesses to that effect. It didn't stop me from shaking. All I wanted to do was leave. I wanted to go home and pretend that this had never happened. After the police arrived, and determined that we were ok, they allowed us to walk to my boyfriends house, which was less than a mile down the road. From there, I called my older sister and had her come get me. His parents weren't so concerned about how we were, but more concerned for their dear car, which was totalled, but I believed they had fixed anyway. It was their love.
I arrived home before my mom had gotten back from her class and quickly went to bed. It wasn't until the following morning, that I confessed about my sneaking out and told her about the accident. She was furious that I had disobeyed her, but more furious that the police had just let us walk away. How did they know there wasn't anything wrong with us?? We ended up spending a good part of the day at the E.R. having xrays and what not, to make sure I hadn't broken anything.. I hadn't, and I was fine. I had chipped my two front teeth, and had a couple of loose ones, but a trip to the dentist for some filing, and I was fine. The loose ones held their own, and that was that. It was roughly 4 months later that I started having problems with my jaw. It kept locking on me, and the only way to unlock it was to move my lower jaw back and forth til it unlocked. I eventually ended up seeing an oral surgeon, who did an MRI and discovered that the disc inside my jaw (the meniscus) had slipped, and was causing my jaw to lock. The only fix was surgery, in which the doctor would pull the disc back up in place, and hope for the best. Recovering from surgery sucked, as it would, but the part that was suckier than that was when it slipped again less than a year later, and I had to have another operation in which to just remove the disc. Something that my doctor did not want to do to someone so young..since I would most likely have problems with it when I was older.
24 years later, and my jaw is fine. I remember the doctor telling me that I would most likely have problems with it when I hit 40, and that arthritis would likely set in. I'm patiently waiting, but happy to report that it's given me no problems thus far. Only time will tell..
Three years after the accident, I met my future husband. It wasn't until our 2nd or 3rd date, that he took me out in his mom's car. A Chevy Celebrity. Same make and model, different color..different boy..different time. I only drove in it a few times, until I got my own car (a geo metro, another chevy brand) which suited both my boyfriend and I just fine. I won't ever forget that night, when for a split second I passed out, fallen to the floor of the car. And I won't forget how I realized something so small, like a kiss, could alter your life forever.

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