I am adopted and my sister isn't. Lindsay has my dad's eye, my mom's ankles, my dad's height, my mom's face shape, etc. I never had that. I never really missed it because I didn't know what I was missing.

Tonight Johnny and I were on the phone. He was the massage therapist for Riverdance last week when they were in Des Moines. It was really wonderful to hear all of his stories, but the thing that sticks with me the most was when he mentioned how he's "phonetically susceptible" to dialects. There were a lot of Irish people he worked on and he mentioned that he absorbed their manner of speaking.

I suddenly remember a time when I was 12 and visiting my grandmother in North Carolina. The next door neighbor had a granddaughter my age and we became fast friends. Her name was Katy. She was born and raised in NC, so she had a nice southern drawl. After three days of hanging out with her, I definitely picked up her dialect. I came in to have lunch and Katy was with me. When I asked for a sandwich, my words were affected, and my parents sort of made fun of me. I didn't want Katy to think I was teasing her. I just couldn't help it. I naturally picked up how she was speaking.

So, hearing Johnny talk tonight about how he does that really hit me hard. For the first time in my life I had the same experience that other people take for granted. I felt connected to a part of me that I've never touched before. It was wonderful.