Published July 15, 2007 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune

Room for two
By Aaron J. Brown

On July 2, 2007, we welcomed twin boys into our world. Douglas and George join our son Henry in what now becomes a pretty big brood by modern standards. I used to look at those families – the ones with waves of sticky toddlers teeming out of shopping carts and restaurant booths – and wonder how that happened. Now I know.

My wife Christina and I have expected these guys for a long time. We found out early after a scare brought us to the hospital. On the ultrasound screen, where we desperately hoped to see one healthy baby, we saw two healthy babies. We entered a trance; overwhelmed with joy, trepidation and rough estimates of diaper prices (everything times two). But for all the months of waiting, the whole idea seemed conceptual (no pun intended), like an album cover design drawn on a bar napkin. 

Now, after a couple months of bed rest, a tanker truck of ice cream and frequent requisitions from fast food restaurants, Doug and George are here. They were born a couple weeks early, but healthy, hungry and loud. I’ve had plenty of “wow” moments in my life, but no wow compares to holding these guys in the nursery and realizing that both would be coming home with us.

There are so many fears involved in parenting. These fears range from the big stuff, like health and safety, to the fear of somehow screwing up your kids by feeding them too many hot dogs or artificial sweetener. In red state households: “What if my kids don’t like sports?” In blue state households: “What if my kids lack whimsy and advanced test scores?” For me, the biggest fear with the twins was that I would mix them up. I’ve known lots of twins and invariably I think Bob is Bill and Bill is Bob. That’s fine when Bill works at the gas station and Bob is the mail carrier, but you can’t get away with that when the twins live across the hall and share your DNA.

On the big day, though, these fears melted away. There’s no mistaking Doug – who on his birthday looked a little like my dad but mostly like himself. And George resembles Henry a little, but a good look into his eyes shows you that he’s his own baby. Each has a unique personality, even if their activities are now limited to three or four predominantly biological tasks. I’m a writer, so it hit me that our boys are all new characters – vibrant, with virtues and flaws, but ultimately deep and distinct. I don’t know the men they’ll come to be yet, but I so look forward to the adventure of finding out.

I won’t sugar coat it. These first nights are totally kicking our butts. But even though I didn’t know it all those months ago, there is room for two more at our table and in our hearts. Most of our fears have proven unfounded, with the exception of diaper prices (These guys go through Huggies the way an old time newspaper reporter goes through unfiltered cigarettes). Doug and George, welcome to the Earth in general and our house in particular. You’re the sixth generation of Browns on the Iron Range and who knows what the future will bring. We’ll keep things interesting for you and I’m sure you’ll keep it interesting for us.

After all, we’re one of those families now: big, sticky and loud. 

NOTE: There are hazards in having worked for the newspaper and now writing this column out of the office. The casual e-mail I sent to my e-mail address book announcing Doug and George’s birth was accidentally run as an official birth announcement in last Sunday’s newspaper. If the wording seemed a tad informal, just know that a proper announcement and pictures taken more than five minutes after their birth are on the way.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.

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