Talking Points

I had a light bulb moment the other day, that I have pondered regularly ever since. I work with another social worker named, Cathy. Recently we have been working together on a case which requires that we catch up by telephone regularly. We always announce our names when we call--"Cathy, this is Kim". As I hung up thought about the number of times my twin sister, Kathy, and I talk by telephone and how very much different our greetings are. Kathy tends to leave her cell phone in the car or her purse when she is shopping, lunching whatever. So whenever she answers I always ask "Kathy, where are you?" If she answers "Kim" before I get to speak I know that she is busy and I quickly say to call me later. When I call the house, she chimes "Kim" when I question "Kathy?". Now I know it is her, but her response generally tells me if she is busy or able to talk. If she doesn't chime "Kim" I deduce that she is busy and only has a minute. I imagine she determines my availability from my tone as well. The experts say that baby twins have their own language--I don't know if that is true; but as adults we certainly have developed our own form of communication. Not sure why I felt a need to write that down!