Where do I begin?
Oh yeah, the beginning.
In the spring of 1973, my parents, Carl and Emily Weaver, were living a picture-perfect moment. They had a lively 3-year-old boy at home, and they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their second child, due in mid-July. Everyone knew they were hoping for a girl. They had already picked out a name -Brandy.
But life, as it often does, had other plans.
About a month before the due date, Emily went into labor. As was customary at the time, Carl was left to pace the waiting room, anxiously glancing at the door while doctors and nurses took charge inside. Hours stretched on, and later the next morning, Emily gave birth to a tiny baby boy, my brother, Brandon.
There were smiles and congratulations, but they were brief and uneasy. Suddenly, the room grew quiet. Too quiet. The doctor’s brow furrowed in a way that could only mean trouble. Emily, sensing the shift, turned pale. "What's wrong?" she demanded, her voice cracking with anxiety. “What is going on?”
The doctor hesitated, before finally replying, "There is… something else in there."
It was me.
I was the ‘something else in there!’
Seven minutes later, I entered the world. A second tiny, silent baby boy, completely unexpected, and altogether unnoticed until that very moment.
Allow me to explain a bit about the ‘Olden Days.’ The year was 1973, a time that seems like the Stone Age compared to today’s medical technology. Back then, there were no ultrasounds, no blood markers, no DNA tests to reveal what was happening inside a mother’s womb. The doctors monitored my mother’s health, listened for a fetal heartbeat, and hoped for the best.
My brother Brandon and I weighed ten pounds combined -not a particularly large baby by any means. If our heartbeats were in sync, or if I was simply hiding behind him, no one had a clue that the daughter they were so eagerly expecting was actually twin boys.
Surprise!
There was no pink bundle of joy named Brandy. Instead, there were two bewildered parents, a stunned medical team, and two tiny boys who had shared a secret for over eight months.
In the end, my entrance into the world was unplanned, unannounced, and much quieter than most. Flying under the radar since before I was born.
This was the beginning.
This was MY beginning.
My origin story.