THE BOATMAN BATTERY
Brooke was the pitcher, and I was the catcher. She tutored in math; I karaoked in our math class. She was dragged to the school dances; I was the one dragging her. She was content to sit quietly in the audience, while I was on the stage. Same face but totally different.
We’re twins. We are a whopping 11 minutes apart (our poor mother), due to the fact we both wanted to enter this world at the same time. One of us had to be slowed down (aka had to be pushed back) so we could safely come out one at a time...again, our poor poor mother. I, Brittney, won the battle and became the obviously older, wiser twin. Brooke, though, is ever-so-slightly taller. Give and take; a true partnership.
Since childhood, we have been asked all the twin questions:
-Do we feel each other’s pain? Well, there was this one time Brooke hit her head on the school bus, then I got a headache. Does that count?
-Have you ever switched places? Yep, in junior and high school, a few times. Never got caught! What up!
-Do you have a secret twin language? We don’t think so, but if you ask Garrett (Brooke’s husband) he would say we do. Garrett says we sometimes talk nonsense to each other and act as though what we’ve said is crystal clear to others around us.
-Can you read each other’s minds? No, but we have an intuition that is different than most siblings, which made for a great pitcher-catcher combo.
All the twin things!
All these quips and stories, as fun as they may be, don’t encompass all of who we are. As you may remember from a previous post (Calgon Take Me Away), we moved a lot growing up. But through all the chaos, we were each other’s constant. No matter where we moved, what new school we were in, we always had a built-in friend. Though our differences are many, we have always been, and still are, incredibly close. We’re best friends. Best friends who are so different yet complementary. We balance each other out.
Brooke helps me stay grounded when I get the itch to flee, keeps me focused on my dreams and goals, and helps me stay organized in chaos. She’s a HUGE reason why Trust Falls and High Kicks exists! Seriously. She initiated the brainstorming session and created the note on my phone of all the ideas, giving me the kick in the pants I needed to start it all. We have a “business” meeting every other week where Brooke comes with her bulleted, color-coded notebook to discuss all the present and future tasks needing to be addressed. She’s my ultimate sidekick high kicker!
I encourage Brooke get out of her comfort zone, stretch her creative muscles, and help her see the beauty in imperfection. Unknown to most, Brooke is a writer, a truth-teller, a perfectionist, a chef, and a great car-dancer. She’s deep but also really funny. It just takes a little longer for others to experience. Insert layers of an onion metaphor here. I try to pull her out of her extreme-introvert bubble because I want everyone to know how cool she is! When she gets paralyzed by her need to be and do things perfectly, I help push her to movement, to write the words, do the project, wear the outfit, share the feelings.
Brooke is married to Garrett. He is basically the ultimate brother-in-law (no offense to other super cool bro-in-laws out there...you know I’m biased here). I was suspect when they first got-together. I mean, I was her person for 25 years, so don’t you even think about taking her away from me! We’re good now, though. He’s been hazed and made it through alive, now with the coveted ranking of best friend as well.
Marriage did change things, as did babies. It was rocky at first, but now our relationship is better than ever. We’ve matured, gone through hard things, and have come out strong on the other side. Brooke still knows me better than I know myself sometimes. She can tell when I’m holding back and really need to share about whatever is going on in my head and heart. She also loves to cook! This is one way Brooke for sure expresses her creativity, and I am happy to partake in said culinary creations. Then there’s the OBVIOUS huge plus of aunthood. You all know how I feel about being an aunt. Best. Job. EVER!
In high school the local newspaper wrote a few articles about us because we were the twin pitcher-catcher duo taking over Arkansas softballdom. They referred to us as “The Boatman Battery.” Besides being a pitcher-catcher unit, we’re also like a physical battery. Opposites in so many ways, but one doesn’t work without the other. Living in separate countries and states has happened and was tolerated, but definitely not favorable. You can’t have a working battery without the pitcher and the catcher, without the positive and the negative ends. Together it works.