I had forgotten about this funny story that happened when Sterling was born. I remembered it the other day and it made me laugh.
For two of the years that we lived in Sharjah, we had a neighbor (James) who was Jeremy's doppelganger. They were in our ward at church and when they were both wearing suits and ties, even I couldn't tell them apart from a distance (or closer up, if it was just out of the corner of my eye). Not only did they look alike, but they both worked at AUS and were exercise buddies, too. They could be seen almost daily going on runs together around campus or going to circuits class together. For Halloween, they dressed up as twins.
Well, there are not that many nerdy, fit, blonde academics in Sharjah, so the fact that James and Jeremy were often mistaken for each other by casual friends and acquaintances when out and about was no surprise. Even after two years of knowing them both, lots of people at church still called one by the other's name (or just "Jam-ey," as one lady finally compromised).
The funny part of this story is coming. So, when Sterling was born, naturally Jeremy started getting lots of greetings of "congratulations!" from neighbors and coworkers when he was walking to work or whatever. But: so did James. He'd be out for a run and a passerby would say "congratulations on the new baby!" I think at first he tried to correct people, but that's a really awkward exchange for both parties and not suited to a quick in-passing conversation anyway. So he started just saying "thanks!" The congratulations were heartfelt, after all, and he passed them on to Jeremy and me and no harm was done.
But his more devious side, he later confessed, would have loved to respond with something like, "oh, the baby's not mine," or simply, "actually, I'm not the father." Mwahahahaha, I cackle again just thinking of it. But I'm glad he didn't do that. I'm happy just laughing at the idea of it.
