BOTH OF HER

Those of you who have been following these humble chronicles even only vaguely may recall my continued puzzlement at the fact that although my twin granddaughters Mitsuki and Miasa had appeared to share only one placenta, the two little beasties looked very different, Mitsuki being rounder of face, heavier and quieter, Miasa being narrower and longer of face, lighter and more energetic, with differently patterned and slightly protruding ears. Everyone, including the midwife, deemed them fraternal twins.

You could therefore have knocked me over with a pacifier yesterday after mama Kasumi came over and walked into the house with Kaya the proud older daughter and the new Miasa herself (while Mitsuki slept on in the car) and I was not surprised to see that Kaya had grown quite a bit, or that Miasa looked very much like Miasa, when after Kaya and I went for a radish-picking and general examination-of-the-countryside-in-the-rain walk, we returned and I saw that Kasumi was still holding Miasa, who was now dressed differently yet was also crawling around on the floor in the same clothes as before, looking exactly like she had looked moments ago, for she actually was Miasa, whom Kasumi appeared to be holding, though that was revealed to be Mitsuki, who had become identical to her sister, who also had become identical to her sister.

It turns out that she is identical, after all, whichever she is. Both of her. Which, apart from the fact that I now can't tell her apart, is a great relief to me, twin puzzlementwise. Not to mention that both of her are cute as either one, crawling around on the floor exactly like whichever she isn't. It is quite a common thing in life, after all, for one puzzle to lead to another, it keeps us on our toes, whichever we are, and I'm sure this pronoun problem will pass.