You never know who you'll meet at the pool...

Okay, so I'm at the pool with my kids and my friends. It is hot, hot, hot! It is so hot that I can't stand it a minute longer so I jump in. Ahhhh! Refreshing. That's summer in Georgia! Before long, another family comes in - parents with two kids. I've seen them before, at least I've seen the mom but I've never met her. So I'm not sure why this time is different. Not sure why I stare at her so much. There's something familiar about her - especially her mouth. Hmmmm..... Have I met her before? I don't think so.

Then I see it.

She is the spitting image of my sister-in-law. I mean even down to the bleached blonde hair and the bangs. She even scrunches up her mouth the same way. She doesn't look quite as...how should I say...rough around the edges? There's no bun in her hair, no bluetooth thingie on her ear, and no black roots. But everything else is very similar. She even looks mad all the time.

I just can't get past the resemblance.

I see her a couple more times and finally I just can't stand it anymore. I go over to her in the pool and just start talking to her. You know, just making small talk - neighbors talking. She seems nice, not overly friendly but she didn't seem to mind chatting with me. I tell her that she bears a striking resemblance to my sister-in-law and I would swear that she must be a long, lost relative of hers. She laughs and says, " you know, they say everyone has a twin out there somewhere". Yeah right.

The next time I see her, she comes up to me. We had never exchanged names, I didn't even know where in the neighborhood she lived.

"Hi there. Do you remember me?" she says.

"Yeah, from the other day, right?"

"Yes. I didn't get your name when we were talking. My name is Lisa and I live on Nina Court."

"My name is Maria and I live across the street." I point past the fenceline to my house just beyond the cul de sac where the pool is.

"It's nice to meet you Maria. Listen, I've been thinking a lot about our conversation the last time we talked and I just can't get something out of my mind. You said that I remind you a lot of your sister-in-law, right?"

"Yes. You bear a striking resemblance to her and it is just such a coincidence that I would have met you at the pool."

"Yeah, well. Here's the thing." I start to get a little uncomfortable by the look on her face and "the thing" she is about to tell me. "My family moved to Georgia about three years ago from St. Louis, MO. I was born and raised there. My mother had passed away not long before our move and I found out just before she died that I was adopted. She had never told me that before."

Wow. I just stare at her with my mouth wide open.

She is wringing her hands now. She seems nervous. "Well, I have been thinking about this resemblance and wondering...could it be? Are we related? It would be such a shot in the dark but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I've never tried to find my birth parents but this has just gotten under my skin and I can't stop thinking about it."

I don't know what to say. Have we just opened a can of worms here, or what? A few days ago, I barely knew this woman and now here she was telling me intimate details of her life. I didn't even know her last name. I knew nothing else about her except what she had told me today. She is adopted. She is originally from St. Louis, MO. I wonder how old she is? Suddenly it is very important to me to know how old she is because all of a sudden I realize something - something so incredible that I can't even get the words out.

"Uh, Lisa? You are not going to believe this. My sister-in-law's name is Renee. She was raised here in the metro Atlanta area but her parents are both from the St. Louis area. " Lisa looks at me with wide eyes, she has a look of sheer disbelief at this incredible coincidence.

"And Renee is adopted too."

Oh. My. Gosh.





PS - don't get your panties in a wad...it's a fictional story!