My Astrological Twin

Is my stylist. Her name is Deirdre, we're both Leos, and I've been going to her since I was pregnant with Sicily. She's younger than me by a few years, but our lives have taken some really strange parallels. She got out of an 11 year marriage about a year ago, and long before then she gave me the courage to face a lot of issues in my own life.

We met out by chance once, a little over a year ago, but despite many promises we have never gotten together outside of our sylist-client relationship. So I was excited to invite her over tonight while Sicily and John were at their aunt Annie's house for a birthday celebration for their dad.

Deirdre started talking to me about astrology a year before I finally bought the bible - Sextrology. It splits up genders and astrological signs and discusses mind, body, and spirit characteristics. I read myself about a year ago (Yikes! So true!) and pulled it off the shelf last week to show my friend Laurie after we had dinner at Ferneau and watched my brother's best friend and former band mate, Chris Henry, play his loop player until midnight. Laurie was floored. I am a fire sign, and she is a water sign - both are strongly attached to their fathers. It was neat to read myself again, a year later and much stronger, from a new life viewpoint on Sunday morning.

I haven't hosted many guests here lately, so I excitedly went to Boulevard and bought a St. Andre's and a Stilton, along with some buttery rosemary Carr crackers. Also got some Danish wedding cookies, and an Americano to keep me going. It was nice to have a little break from my weekend with the kids - although hard to complain about seeing one of the best kid movies I have ever seen - How To Train A Dragon. I highly recommend.

Deirdre brought her boyfriend of a year - Jerry. He's a bass guitarist with a proclivity for computers. I think I convinced them to go to see Les Claypool on the 24th. To read his book. I hope to see them there.

Turns out, Jerry knows my brother. When I talked about him as Matt, Jerry was perplexed. All of a sudden he said, "Chief?"

My brother's nickname is Chief, the same nickname my Grandpa Jack, who died when I was a toddler, was awarded by his buddies in the war. It was serendipitous.

A former band member of my brother's, who is in Australia now, called Jerry while he was at my house. "Guess where I am? Chief's older sister's house. Can you believe it?" I learned that my brother's former band, Cooper's Orbit, beat out the one that Jerry was in at the time, at the Arkansas Time's Battle of the Bands. By ONE POINT. Jerry held no grudges.

I caught Jerry up on my brother - a year of law school under his belt in Atlanta and a gorgeous Ellen Page look-alike girlfriend who is a former valedictorian and a current anesthetist with my sister. It sure is a small world.

I hope to see them at Les' show. Deirdre and I made plans to go to Buzz-B-Que with our kids, to watch Jeff Coleman and The Feeders. Hopefully it won't get rained out this year.

I wonder who else we all have in common. Might be fun to find out.