The Slice: When spouses look like siblings

An email arrived from Judy Lungren.

“Re: Your question in your column on 11/10, about married people who look like siblings.

“My husband, Rick Noll, and I recently celebrated our 60th birthdays. (He is only 11 days older than I am, so we generally have a joint birthday party, and birthdays ending in ‘0’ call for a big bash.) The big party happened last weekend, and photos of the birthday boy and girl were included on the invitation (attached).

“One of the most frequent comments we heard from our friends about the childhood photos was ‘It’s a good thing you two didn’t reproduce – you look like brother and sister.’

“I don’t know that we still look that much alike, but those childhood photos – remarkable. I was 6 in my childhood photo, and I think Rick was about 8.”

So what do you think? Did Judy and Rick look alike or did they just look like a couple of nice kids?

You make the call.

Unexpected Mentions of Spokane Department: Terry Gross (not the public radio host) submitted a song by the late Warren Zevon called “Mr. Bad Example.”

(You might remember him for his 1978 hit, “Werewolves of London.”)

The section of “Mr. Bad Example” that caught Terry’s notice starts with this line:

I got a part-time job at my father’s carpet store

Then there’s a line that might be a bit much for some readers. But the song resumes:

I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane

and auctioned off every last Naugahyde divan

Anyway, it made Terry wonder. Was the market for Naugahyde really that good in Spokane back then?

Too bad Warren didn’t write “Werewolves of Spokane.”

But Slice readers are welcome to take a stab at it.

Slice answer: World War II Navy veteran Lee Holford shared this. “When I am often thanked for my service, my response is ‘Thank you for saying that, and do you have veterans in your family?’ This usually engenders a heartfelt dialogue, sometimes with wet eyes.”

Today’s Slice question: Are the days when not eating meat at Thanksgiving was a cultural flashpoint now behind us or is being a vegetarian still a source of contention during the holiday?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Is your birthday on Thursday?