Joke’s On You
I am 31 and have an identical twin brother. For a while, I’ve told my wife that none of her family members notice me or care about anything I do on Christmas Eve, but they insist on me attending. She told me that’s not true, they genuinely like me and enjoy talking to me. But I know that the only times they’ve included me I had to basically insert myself into conversations and it feels awkward and unnatural.
So I had a wager with my wife. Bring my twin brother Steve instead of me and see if anyone notices. I purposefully did not prep Steve on anything, he went in completely clueless. Of course, he knew why we were doing it and was game. I gave him $20. I was proven right in the best way. As I suspected, Steve confirmed that he wasn’t approached all night.
Nobody could tell he wasn’t me, and he admitted he even felt excluded and he could only imagine how I felt. So this morning on Christmas, I invited Steve to join. Normally he’s with my mom and dad every year as he’s not married or in a relationship. They know about him obviously but didn’t know about the switcheroo. That was when I revealed that last night “I” was Steve and expressed disappointment that nobody noticed and said this is why I stopped trying, because nobody talks to me.
My wife drew the line here. She was hoping we would keep this between the two of us as a funny prank. But how can I expect her family to see what jerks they’ve been if I don’t expose it? For what it’s worth, Steve was fine.