Family

Cody and I were inspired by Storycorps’ National Day of Listening project to stage an interview. It asks people to interview those they love… ask them questions you’ve always wanted to ask. The point is you become closer to the person you love and have a memorable keepsake to share with others for the rest of your life. I approached Cody and asked him if I could interview him. He was a little hesitant at first, but he was game. I grabbed my cheapie Olympus recorder. We sat on a thrift store couch in my teeny-weeny apartment in Sept. 2010. We talked for about 45 minutes. I had a list of some pre-thought out questions and I also asked some off the top of my head. I learned a lot about Cody…I hope he learned a lot about me, too. Cody and I have been through some tough times together. I live in Los Angeles now, about 12 hours away. I miss him so much. When we are together, we laugh at jokes that no one else would understand. We know all the words to random Mariah Carey songs. We both have an unhealthy obession with cheese. We make up words…like stummy.

“Happy Birthday dear codyandashley…ashleyandcody…ashcody…codley…” Our names always get mashed together at our mutual family birthday parties. I’m used to it now and actually love it. It reminds me how lucky I am to have my brother, Cody. We’ve always been known as Cody and Ashley: the Bailey twins where we grew up in Arcata, California. Our family’s lived there for three generations…we are kinda hard not to recognize. People see our faces and immediately know: You’re a Bailey!

I used to hate being a twin. Cody and I would fight all the time growing up. I hit him in the eye with a hockey stick. We had salt and pepper fights. (Oh, you don’t do that? It’s when you run around the house screaming like banshees with spice shakers in hand when you’re mom’s at work) Most siblings feel some sort of competitive edge. But being a twin feels a little bit more challenging at times. Like the day we took our driving tests. My permit test – I failed. He passed. I cried all the way home. He was all smiles. My driving test – pass! His driving test – fail. He got his license three weeks later. Then there’s the whole sharing friends and classes at school. I had a hard time when some of my best girlfriends stopped calling the house for me and instead called to hang out with my “cool brother.”

Cody and I grew up. I now pretty much consider him my best friend. And who wouldn’t want to know as much as they can about their best friend?

I hear his voice in this interview and know that he’s just a phone call away. It makes me happy. I posted an edited portion of our interview on youtube, click the link at the top of this post. I hope you enjoy Cody as much as I do.