My reference to the author’s name being unknown had to do with my total lack of familiarity with the author. Although the book cover boldly proclaimed “New York Times Bestselling Author”, my inability to recognize the author’s name and connect it with anything I’d ever read or even heard about yielded me a clue as to how the book obviously came to be a part of my library.
I’m a sucker for a sale. However, I don’t buy just anything. The first criterion before I purchase anything is that I have to want it. Secondly, it is easier for me to part with the money if I can also convince myself that I need it. Three weeks ago when I ordered a Gramophone from Restoration Hardware, I was hard-pressed to come up with a logical explanation related to need. Consequently, I threw caution to the wind and just purchased it. Knowing what I know now, would I make the same purchase today? My honest answer is, “You bet!” The sound filtering through the Gramophone has a unique quality.
Looking more closely at the book, I immediately garnered the books attraction. In addition, I also know how it came to be in my possession. The first clue was easy to discover. It was written on the inside flap of the book’s cover: “Thirteen-year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he’d been taught since birth to trust. No one else believes that Alyssa is still alive, but Johnny is certain that she is – confident in a way that he can never fully explain…”
Obviously “missing twin” and the impact the brother experienced dealing with loss captivated my attention. As if that wasn’t enough, the description of the families’ deterioration subsequent to the loss read like an admission assessment of any number of kids I’ve worked with across the years. The book garnered my attention.
I also know myself well enough to know I purchased the book at Barnes and Noble. You can bet it was on one of their special sale tables. I’d never have paid full price for a book from an unknown author. The book was fiction, but it captivated my attention.
I recently heard about another book that chronicles a fascinating story. The book is entitled: “Separated @ Birth A true Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited. The story line is interesting. A couple of years ago, a friend sent Anaïs Bordier, a 25-year old student in London the screen shot of a young woman in America who looked like her. The resemblance was uncanny. The screen shot was from an actress named Samantha Futerman. She appeared in an online trailer for a movie called “21 & Over.”
Anaïs was adopted shortly after birth from an orphanage South Korea where she was raised as an only child. Her family lived in Paris and Brussels. The only information Anaïs had about her family of origin is that her adoption papers listed her as a “single live birth.” She knew nothing about her birth mother. Could she and Samantha possibly be related? Initially, she discounted any possibility that they could be twins, but perhaps she was a cousin.
Friends of Anaïs did some snooping for her on the web. Reportedly, Samantha had also been adopted and shared the same birth date as Anaïs. On Feb. 21, 2013, Anaïs sent Samantha a friend request on Facebook. She admittedly shared that she had stalked her a bit and knew she was both born on the 19th of November 1987 and that she was adopted. She then added: “I was wondering where you were born?”
Four days later, the two had their first Skype session. “Seeing Anaïs on Skype was unreal,” Sam writes. “I had never seen anyone who looked even remotely like me, let alone my exact mirror reflection. She had my laugh, my freckles, and that profile. When she turned to the side during that first Skype session, I was blown away. I stopped for a second and freaked out inside.”
“For Anaïs, that Skype session was all the proof she needed — especially when they compared baby pictures: They had the same expressions. They learned that throughout their girlhoods, they had had the same series of haircuts in the same order. They both hate cooked vegetables, carrots especially. They both have the same manner of speaking, trailing off mid-sentence. They both brush their teeth multiple times a day, have a fear of being grazed by a shower curtain, freely admit to Napoleon complexes, and require 10 hours of sleep a night, plus daily naps.
DNA testing confirmed for their disbelieving adoptive parents what Anaïs and Sam already knew. The girls were twins. Thus began a love story that started 25 years late. Obviously, the clear message is: “Better late than never.”
All My Best!
Don