Happy 21st Birthday, Alex & Jess DuMond!

The DuMond twins, Alex and Jess, turn 21 today. That's about 7,670 days since they were born. Some of those days were better than others perhaps, but by any measure everyone who knows Jess and Alex can celebrate their reaching this milestone.

Ironically, both DuMond twins are turning 21 while in Japan, where the legal drinking age is 20, so there's an element of the anti-climactic, at least in terms of toasting a birthday with a sip of adult beverage. In any event, even though we are on a different continent from Alex and Jess, we shall raise a glass and toast their birthday.

Some highlights of the past 21 years:

• Jessica Paige DuMond and Alexander David DuMond make their grand entrance almost simultaneously on 7/31/87 in a surgical suite in a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. The room is filled with surgeons, doctors and nurses, all of whom have the sole focus of bringing Alex and Jess into the world.
• Both DuMond twins would go on to learn multiple musical instruments throughout their years of growing up.
• Alex and Jess graduated several years ago from two different high schools on the same night at the same time (Jess from Ashland High School in Ashland, Oregon; Alex from St. Mary's School in Medford, Oregon). Parental units had to divide and conquer in order for to have someon at both events.
• Both are pursuing advanced educational opportunities in Seattle, Washington.

Alex and Jess: All of the people who took part in raising you (mom, dad, stepmom, grandma, friends, neighbors), along with your aunt, uncle, nephews, niece, brother, sister-in-law and everyone else in your lives are proud of you and happy that you've reached full adulthood as smart and healthy humans. And above all, WE LIKE YOU AND WE LOVE YOU!