A Duo In Unum...Or Something Like that

Heather and I have been together almost 23 years. This seems unreal to me. I still look at other people as the grown-ups. We were just children when we started dating in 1989. There is no way we could have predicted the path our lives would take. I'm not sure where I am headed with this post but bear with me.  It just seems to me that we began our journey together as two very different people.  When I say different, I mean different from each other. Very different backgrounds, different family structures different in a lot of ways.A lot of people have been together for as long as we have but they have not necessarily been through what she and I have been through.  The things we have been through have made us closer than many couples.  They have made us act as one. Many couples finish each other's sentences but we actually don't even have to start the sentences.  We think the same thoughts at the same time.  We know what the other is thinking without the benefit of words.  True story.  Heather and I were Christmas shopping last year and had finish up.  We were sitting in the car and I asked her what she would like to eat.  She said " you know what I would like that we haven't had in a long time?' I'm not really sure how I knew it but I replied "Firehouse". She just kind of sat there and looked at me like I had read her most secret diary entry.

Heather "How did you know that?"

Me "I'm not really sure. When you asked the question I just saw a picture of Firehouse Subs"

Heather "That's just creepy."

This is one of many times that I was able to tell what Heather was thinking.  Now please understand that I am not claiming to be psychic.  I am just saying that Heather and I have been so emotionally bound that we somehow know the other's thought process.  One night we were driving on the interstate. I really don't remember where we were.  We came upon a stretch of highway where you could see for a long way.  Heather sighed slightly and I knew immediately what she was thinking. I said to her "You were just thinking of Montana weren't you?" She said "Yes. How did you know?".  I really didn't have an answer for her but I just knew what she was thinking.

It seems to happen more and more as we get older.  We can watch the same T.V. shows for several seasons and notice something we missed on the opening credits at the exact same time. Sometimes we just look at each other and shake our heads.

I guess the first time we ever got the hint that this would be the way of our life was when we were interviewed by someone who was getting their Master's degree.  They asked Heather and I both the same questions about being a parent of a disabled child. We were interviewed on different days when the other was not around. We never actually saw each other's answers.  The person who interviewed us told our mothers several months later that we had answered all the questions almost word-for-word the same. We were pretty surprised to hear that but if you told us that now it would seem reasonable.