How Did I Get Here?

I arrived in Corpus Christi on August 22, 2008.   My best friend, CJ, and I rented a car and drove from Hunt, Texas to Corpus on a rainy day.  We passed numerous wrecks as we came into town and CJ asked if we should just turn around and go back to the ranch where we both worked.  I said I needed to do this and I was excited about my new adventure.  This adventure was to be going to graduate school at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and teaching p.e. at an elementary school in town.   CJ moved what little I owned (really just clothes, a feather top mattress pad and some bedding, a camp chair, and camping equipment into my spacious one bedroom apartment.  Then, we went shopping for pots, pans, plates, bowls, silverware, and food.  She had been a nutritionist in Australia so she knew how to cook and what I would need.  I only knew how to cook over a campfire.  We also had to get me a bike, since I did not own a car and that was going to be my main form of transportation until I could afford a car.  CJ stayed the weekend with me to help me get settled in, then she headed back off to the ranch.
Looking back now, it was stupid for me to move to Corpus Christi, Texas.  I did not know anyone here.  I had no family here, and I had only made two trips to Corpus; one was with my twin sister and we camped on the National Seashore one night before deciding it was a miserable place in March and leaving immediately at 6 A.M.  My other trip was my interview with the school I would get hired at.  I suppose that I moved to Corpus thinking it would be just like my move to the ranch.  I would immediately make great friends, I would love my job, there would be all kinds of fun activities for me to pursue on a daily basis, and I would have a great time!  Needless to say, none of these things happened.  I made only a few friends, my job was ok (I love my students, but sometimes it is frustrating being outside in the humidity teaching all day and when it is cold it is not fun at all for me, I HATE cold weather), and as for fun activities, Corpus did not offer any I was accustomed to.  My first year in Corpus Christi was not great, but it has grown on me a bit.

Crazy Cat Lady

I have been called the crazy cat lady since I was a small child.  At one point I did not even have a cat.  My entire family called me the crazy cat lady for yrears.  Even now, they still call me that, although I only have one cat; this one cat is named Mowgli.  He does not act like a cat, though; he fetches a ball and brings it back in his mouth to whomever he wants to throw it.  He does not like to cuddle like most cats and you cannot pet him for more than a minute without him biting you.  This cat is positively evil and if he were a person he would not have any friends.  I am not sure I even like him sometimes, but I could never get rid of him because it would be considered assault once he attacked his new owner. 
So, why does my family call me the crazy cat lady?  I would surmise that it is because for years I said I never wanted to get married or have a family and according to society today that means a woman is either a lesbian or a crazy loner.  When my twin sister got married and I was still single my family did not even tell me it was my turn next.  They were resigned to me being the crazy cat lady.  While I now have changed my tune and decided that I eventually may want to get married and adoption sounds like a great option when I am ready for kids they are slowly retreating on the name calling.  Although, my little brother will probably always call me the crazy cat lady I am proud they are finally deciding that I am not the crazy loner they once believed I was. 

Twin Strangeness

My mother recently told me that my identical twin sister, Danielle, and I have an odd relationship.  According to my mother this is because we give each other expensive gifts for holidays and our birthday, we talk everyday even though we live in different states, and we get more angry if someone slights our twin then if that same person slighted us.  My mother said that she thinks this is the same relationship that a married couple should have, not siblings.  This is where the argument started with my mother.  Danielle and I are identical twins; this means that we have identical DNA and that even though we do not look exactly alike anymore everyone can still tell that we are twins.  So, why should a married couple have a closer relationship than my twin and I?
Danielle and I grew up together and before the age of fourteen the most amount of time we had spent apart was one night and until the end of our junior year of college the most amount of time we had spent apart was one week.  People always ask us if we can read each other's minds or feel each other's pain; while we cannot do these things and I think twins who say they can are crazy, we can tell what the other is thinking when we are in the same situation because we are generally thinking the same thing.  Since we have the same facial expressions a look can often convey more than words between us.  So, why is that my mother thinks a married couple can only give expensive presents, talk everyday, and take up for their partner? 
I suppose that since my mother is not a twin and had eleven siblings she does not understand the closeness that twins feel.  She had lots of siblings to hang out with when she was young, while up until my little brother was born, when we were nearly five, we only had eachother.  My mother's siblings were much older than her too.  She was the eleventh child born in her family and she was picked on quite a bit by her siblings.  So, by the time she was in her twenties she was married and finally had a relationship that was as close as the relationship my twin and I have.  While I think my mother simply does not understand the closeness that Danielle and I have I do think that she also wishes she could have had that closeness with one of her siblings because she did have a very rough childhood and a close relationship with one of her siblings would have made that childhood much easier.