

Two of the girls in these photos are sisters, can you guess which ones?
On the left is a photo of me and Karen, and I should say, not a fair representation of me for what I am about to explain because I was wearing shoes with three inch heels. On the right are the other sisters, Carol and Tena. Carol and Tena are not sisters....and now Karen and I are not too sure we are, either. Well, I mean, we are sisters but you know, maybe we have different dads. As you can sort of clearly see*, Karen and I look nothing alike, yet Karen and Tena sort of look alike and Carol and I sort of do. Isn't this weird?
Karen and I have never looked alike. In fact, we look so different from each other that when our mother introduces us to people as her daughters, she is always sure to say she swears we have the same father. Yeah, ok. Karen is a normal height and I am short (not even 5'2"). Karen has high cheekbones, I have none. Karen is very straight and I am very curvy. Karen's skin is pink and mine is yellow. Our noses, well they are just totally different, yet hers is similar to the noses of our two brothers. I don't have the nose, I don't have the height, I don't have the keen sense of direction, and I don't have the same love of Oreos that my siblings all have. Even more surprising is that often when people meet me, they comment that they didn't know I'm Asian. When Karen and I are together, Chinese people walk right up to us and speak to me in Chinese. Hmmmm. Ok. I am not Chinese. At least I don't think I am...sometimes Russian Jews do kind of look Asian, though (just not any of my siblings or mom and "dad").
Thanks to a recent article in Newsweek Magazine about genetics and DNA testing, I found out that for a couple hundred dollars and a little bit of spit, I can really find out what I am made of. I did want that new Coach bag for my birthday next month, but don't you think DNA testing would be way more fun? I totally do. Just imagine how lively our family dinners will be now.
*Sorry you can't really see these big and clear but I look double chiny in the photo and though you may have seen me with a bad eye brow wax in the book, double chiny is worse. And, even though I think Carol and Tena look adorable, just in case either one of them doesn't like this photo, I didn't make it too big.