Siamese Twins

Chang and Eng were born in 1811 in the same province of Thailand where my brother is now living. Their unique birth gave Siam (what Thailand was called then) the original Siamese Twins and the English language a new phrase. Their perfect English and their kind, thoughtful and open personalities made them adult stars and a small fortune in the traveling circus shows. They married a pair of American sisters, lived together, had 21 children, 11 with one wife and 10 with the other. Over time the sisters had trouble getting along so the twins bought separate houses and moved between both every 3 days. Like most Thai's they found it very hard to deal with conflict so to cope Chang turned to whiskey and Eng to playing poker for a short period of time before going back on the road.

On January 17, 1874, Eng woke to find his brother cold as the queen of spades. When he realized Chang was dead, Eng began to sweat and feel faint. He died a short time later. They are buried in the White Plains Church Cemetery in Surry County, NC. The strange part is they shared no vital organs and today would have been separated in a very simple operation. People have been fascinated with the brothers and their lives and they are still national heros here in Thailand.

Of course it got me thinking that basically Aja and I have been together for 24 hours a day for almost a year now, her mom would kill me if I left her alone. So traveling the world for a year with a child we should have some kind of special English phrase too... like the Victoria-twins, Or the traveling-twins.... ok so give me a better phrase.... Anyway It has been interesting and delightful getting so connected to Aja. Besides we have had no troubles so far, which is good, because I would not want to choose between turning to whiskey drinking or poker playing like the twins did, and as well Aja's mother would not like her doing either either.