Aside from my husband, that is. ;o)

When I was in high school, a friend of mine named Angel and I used to joke that we were twins. We had so much in common that it was scary. The problem was, not only was she a year younger than I am, but she was also black. And I, as most of you know, am whiter than white.

We used to kid that we were born Hispanic but she was darkened to black and I was lightened to white.

Not very politically correct, but oh well.

The girl to whom I am referring now has got to either be a twin or my other half. We are so very much alike it's scary. Physically we're not very similar; she's four inches taller than I am (damn those tall people anyhow!). But in every other way we're so alike.

I went to Cabin Fever again today, although I was dreading it. We were one of the first ones there, and by the time my new friend AS (who I'd met a few weeks before Christmas at Cabin Fever) arrived, it was pandemonium in the padded room. Fortunately it was almost all little girls under 5, which meant that no one was going to get hurt. For some reason, girls tend to have a much better awareness of their place in space; boys just run amok and they don't seem to mind if they run into you or some stationary object.

After only 45 minutes, AS and I could take it no longer. A ton of big boys (between four and six) had arrived, and AS's charge (AS is a nanny; she has no kids as yet) got her head squished under a mat. It was time to go.

AS and I had such a good time chatting that we decided to go to Burger King for lunch. Mmmm... Whopper with cheese, no onion. Heaven on a bun. Grace ate her entire kids' meal -- cheeseburger, milk, and applesauce, along with half my fries. AS was shocked because her little girl eats like a bird.

My daughter is a horse.

Anyhoo, after lunch it was off to the park to extend the playdate. There, AS and I discovered we're just too darn alike. Her dad is a retired Senior Chief in the Navy; my dad is a retired Lieutenant Commander. Both of us married Navy sailors. Both of us are sort of out of the loop here because we're not submariner wives.

AS and I decided there must be a sign on all our foreheads saying, "SURFACE WIFE!" Submariners don't much like surface guys, and vice versa. It also percolates down to the wives. It's weird.

Neither of us have any family in the area; she's from Maine, and I'm from Virginia. Most folks stationed here are here because they're from Oregon or Washington or even Idaho. It's rare you find someone stationed here that came only for the job.

As we were leaving Burger King, I noticed she had the same XM receiver as I do, and I mentioned to her that I've been stuck on the Big Band station for a month or so. She replied that she was listening to Frank Sinatra at the moment.

Did I mention we're the same age too?? Technically, she's almost 3 years younger, but we're a lot closer in age than my other friends. J is 15 years older than I am, for example, and my neighbor TC is 20 years older.

AS also reads the newspaper every day. I thought I was the only one under the age of 50 who did that. Even J doesn't get the newspaper; she reads the Seattle Times online. But AS and I both subscribe to our local paper, and read it every day.

Oh, and we have the same middle name. That's not so very unusual; most girls born in the late 70s, early 80s have the middle name of Marie (only mine is Maree). But it's still cool that we share it.

The whole time we kept saying we're the same person, sharing two different bodies. It's so cool!! I just wish I'd met her earlier because I'm moving in nine months or so. But we're both military, so we could end up in the same place again. Besides, since we're military, we both know how to wring out the most of every moment, and not to take anything for granted.

She also told me she'd introduce me to another friend of hers who she insists I'll like. I may end up with two friends out of the deal!

Then all of a sudden, as AS's girl (who is just one month younger than Grace) and Gracie were going down the fast slide at the park and landing quite hard on their heavily padded derri�res, AS and I thought it had started to rain. But we weren't getting wet... It was hail! And the hail started getting bigger and bigger!!

How often does one have a playdate cut short by hail, of all things?!

Only in Washington!