How twins are not alike

While I am constantly reminded of just how different my twin brother Ben and I are, there have been a few particularly poignant moments where this fact has been ultra apparent to me. One such occasion occurred August 14 at 12:08 pm when I received the following text message:

"Hey fam-just wantd u 2 no i shot myself in the quad this mornin w a 2 1/2 inch siding nail gun! i got the nail pulled and i bak @ work & i got some sweet pics!"

Receiving this text message sitting in my office cubicle in the midst of a long day at work had a two pronged effect. First, I let out a laugh that must have caught the attention of those working dutifully around me. And second, I shook my head, for some reason yet again surprised that my brother could accomplish such a feat. (This is not the first, or even the second, time he has injured himself with such dramatic flair.)

Needless to say, I called Ben to get the full story and he recounted in painful detail how he had proceeded to shoot himself with a nail gun. The story of getting the nail removed in the local emergency room is slightly more entertaining. Ben is working for Habitat for Humanity on the gulf coast of Mississippi as a construction supervisor. He leads the teams of volunteers who come to help out and makes sure that homes get built and families reach the next stage of the long recovery process from Katrina. Ben has an uncanny ability to match that dramatic mission with an equally dramatic flair for accomplishing it. 

I simply have to provide pictures, but I warn you that they are a little gross. The first is the nail stuck in the Ben's thigh and the second is Ben showing off his "accomplishment" post-nail removal.