One day, Pat had been doing her regular chores and chasing the boys, who weren’t quite 3 years old, and trying to keep them in line and she was exhausted. She read the boys a story and put them down for a nap. Satisfied that the boys would be “out” for a while, she fastened the security chain to the front door, laid down, and promptly fell asleep.

Sometime later she was awakened by someone ringing the door bell. As she walked to the door, she realized that a chair had been pulled up to the door and that the security chain was undone. Pat experienced a feeling of panic as she got to the door, not knowing if she would open it to the Police or someone else with bad news. She threw open the door and saw a lady she recognized holding the hands of our two boys. She remembered that the lady lived 2 blocks away, across a busy street, and that the bus stop was in front of her home. The woman had seen Pat and our two boys at the bus stop before and was quite concerned to see the boys there by themselves. She asked them where there mother was and where they were going. They told her that their Mom was asleep and they were going to ride on the ferry and see the boats. Fortunately, the boys knew where they lived so the lady grabbed them each by the hand and walked them home. As Pat and the lady talked they quizzed the boys and discovered the rest of the caper. When getting on the bus in the past, they had seen their mother drop coins into the fare collection box so before leaving the house they had found her purse and grabbed all the change she had and put it in their pockets. That’s pretty good thinking for a couple of outlaws who couldn’t count or make change. Pat thanked the Good Samaritan and after that lady left, gave the boys a good chewing out and grounded them.

Having twin boys messes up your understanding of mathematics. You grew up thinking that 1+1=2 so it would follow that 1 boy plus another boy equals 2 boys but that’s not the way it works. This is why they invented the word “synergism”. One imaginative boy added to another imaginative boy equals 5 times more trouble than you can cope with.

As the time got closer for Pat to deliver, I had to make up my mind on driving the long way around or taking the ferry to Coronado. I decided to drive the long way because there were fewer stoplights and less traffic. Taking the ferry would have meant taking Highway 94 which frequently was jammed up and then going through all the stoplights downtown and hoping there was no delay at the ferry landing.

When the time came, we drove the long way around and everything worked out well when we got to the hospital. Pat had a few tough hours of labor but delivered a healthy baby girl that we named “Terri”.

Doug and Russ and their new sister, Terri