My favorite sister
Caterina Alagna and Melissa Fodera, from Mazara del Vallo, Sicily were both 23 years old when they gave birth to baby girls 15 minutes apart on New Year’s Eve. During the New Year’s Eve celebrations, the on-duty nurses somehow managed to switch out their two tiny infants. When it was time for the mothers and newborns to head home, Alagna and Fodera both questioned why the infants weren’t wearing the clothing they’d brought, but the hospital staff assured them it was merely a wardrobe snafu. Three years later, as Alagna was picking up her daughter Melissa from nursery school, she saw something that shook her to the core. Another child, Caterina by name, bore an uncanny resemblance to Alagna’s two other biological daughters. When she recognized the little girl’s mother Fodera as the woman she’d shared the maternity ward with, the clothing incident popped into her mind—and something clicked. The swaddling hadn’t been switched… the babies had. 15 days later, DNA tests confirmed her suspicions. It was a choice neither one of them wanted to face. “I challenge anyone to raise a daughter for three years then give her up over a simple mistake,” Fodera said.
Rather than simply make the swap back, the families decided it would be best to let everyone acclimate to the new situation slowly. Both girls and both sets of parents began spending time together in one house. The arrangement worked out so well that, when the two families separated on the advice of experts for a six-month trial, the plan was quickly scuttled. The switch was explained to Melissa and Caterina when they were 8 years old. The only real complication they’ve faced is the issue with their legal names. Emotionally, however, the two girls, now grown to young adulthood, couldn’t be better. Their story spawned a book and a movie. “The girls effectively grew up with four parents and eight grandparents, and the experiment worked… Today they are more like twins than sisters and there is a kind of love which binds the two families.” The moral of the story? We may not be able to choose the families we’re born into, but we can choose the families we make—and if that choice is made with love, that can be a special thing indeed.
Sisterly love
During an argument with my wife, she dropped the old, “Why did you even marry me?” line.
Apparently, “Your sister was already taken” was not the right answer.
The mother ran into the bedroom when she heard her seven-year-old son scream. She found his two-year-old sister pulling his hair. Soon, the mother gently released the little girl’s grip and said comfortingly to the boy, “There, there, she didn’t mean it. She doesn’t know that it hurts.” He nodded his acknowledgment, and she left the room. As she started down the hall the little girl screamed. Rushing back in, she asked, “What happened? The little boy replied, “She knows now.”
“I was raised as an only child, which really annoyed my sister.”
Feeling sick, my sister grabbed the thermometer from the medicine cabinet and popped it into her mouth, “Julie, that’s the dog’s thermometer, Julie spit out the thermometer. “Eww, that was in Trixie’s mouth.” Mom hesitated before replying, “Not exactly.”
March 1st Birthdays
1990 – Emeraude Toubia, 1954 – Catherine Bach, 1975 – Cara Buono, 1990 – Daniella Monet
1944 – Ron Howard, 1994 – Justin Bieber, 1980 – Jensen Ackles, 1904 – Glenn Miller