I don’t tell my twin brother I appreciate him enough. So in honor of our half birthday, I wrote this article (yes, I know, it’s probably going to be published late, but it’s the thought that counts, right?). So, without further ado: 17.5 reasons why twin siblings are the best.

1. It's like having a built in best friend.

Growing up with a twin brother, I’ve never had to worry about making friends. I've never had to wonder if there was someone to play with at the playground or if I would fit in with the other children. I've had a companion from birth, and the reassurance that's provided me is inexplicably beautiful. From the moment of my birth, I’ve had an eternal playmate, someone I would always "fit in" with.

2. You have someone who always understands you.

You know those days where you feel like none of your friends understand you? You don’t get those days when you have a twin. You always have someone that can just sit in silence with or talk about the most nonsensical topics with or pick a fight with or hang out and gossip with. You are literally never alone in the world.

3. You have someone who will always give you a different opinion.

Your twin always lets you know when there’s a fault in your logic. Be it about the best pizza toppings to a philosophical error, your twin is always there to make sure you don’t walk outside with the incorrect information.

4. You get the coolest reactions.

Telling people you are twins is almost as cool as actually being twins.People always fawn over the fact that you're twins, and no matter how much you act like it's not that big of a deal, it's still one of the biggest parts of your identity. Plus, the wide eyed amazement most people affect upon learning of your twin-dom is quite satisfying.

5. You learn from each other.

You're always teaching each other all sorts of cool tricks. For example, if one of us was caught and punished for climbing the railing as a child, we told the other so they wouldn’t get caught as well. You got to look out for each other, you know.

6. You can always help each other with homework.

The nice part of having a sibling in your grade is that you can help each other with homework without the interference of time blocking your memory on how to biology or calculus or Shakespeare. Your twin literally has the same material as you, so you can always help each other understand and do well.

7. You have different strengths and different weaknesses.

For me, personally, I’m terrible at the science. Biology, chemistry, physics – you name it – I wouldn’t have been able to pass these classes if my twin hadn’t taught me everything he knew about these subjects. English, on the other hand, is something I’ve taught my brother to appreciate.

8. When you don't know what to caption something, they do.

Half of my brother’s captions were probably created by me and half of mine by him. Staring blankly at a pic trying to caption it for Instais never a problem for us ‘cause we can just around as ask the other to quickly write on up

9. You can have friendly competitions without getting jealous.

My brother and I have what we affectionately refer to as The Curse. Basically, on any given test, quiz, or project, he is guaranteed to be exactly one point ahead of me. And while this is at times frustrating, we are always able to see the fun in the situation and tease each other about it. Mad love to my bro.

10. You always have someone to sharpen your with with.

There are those people who have to practice to be savage, and then there are twins. It’s not so much of practicing our burns on each other, rather more of testing the varying degrees of savagery and cataloguing what’s appropriate for which situation. You don’t even have to worry about the other person becoming truly offended.

11. You get two times the friends.

Sonot only do you have your own friends, but you're automatically on friendly terms with your twin’s friends. You're almost guaranteed to know the whole school because of your combined friendship network and you only really have to put in half the effort.

12. You're privy to all sorts of secrets about people who don't even know you exist.

Now people tell you secrets all the time...that's a just a fact of being alive and interacting with people and having friends. Yet, if you're a twin, you're privy to not only all the secrets of your friends but also the friends of your twin. And you might not even know some of these friends, but you sure as hell would understand that they had a crush on Jo-Ann or Lauren or whomever. The thing about sharing secrets with twins is that it's expected, but it's not done in malice. You're twins secrets are your own; their promises are yours as well.

13. You get to blame each other for your weaknesses.

Suck at science? Weak at reading? No worries! Just blame it on your other half. "Oh well he took the science genes, and I took the writing ones."

14. You get to team up against other people.

Whenever there's a group project or partner test, you're automatically a team. Your classmates have in fact given up on asking or being surprised because they know that it was meant to be. You don't worry about being the only one stuck without a partner and you don't worry about your ideas being vetoed because two heads are always better than one and you'll always have more votes than the rest of the group.

15. It's an immediate conversation starter.

Ever had that moment when the teacher asks you to share a fun fact about yourself? Ya, me too, only about a million times. But the thing is even if there was nothing interesting for me to talk about, I could always default to the fact that I am a twin. Yes, my brother is older by 2 minutes. No we are not identical. Yes, he is so that much taller than me and no, there's not a smarter twin.

16. Saying the same thing at the same time will never be not cool.

On the first day of my world history class, my teacher was calling roll call when she realized we had the same unique last name, gazed across the room and saw that we're Asian and asked "any relation?" without having planned anything, my brother and I spoke at the same time, saying "twins," both shocking and awing the teacher and the class.

17. At the end of the day, you don't need romance or absentee friends because you always know that you belong to someone and someone belongs to you.

In the end, you know that you always belong to your twin, and there's something incredibly comforting about that. You don't have to worry about not finding your romantic soul mate because you were already born with your second half. It is even more calming to know that someone belongs to you. If you don't leave this world having possessed anything else, you at least have to worry about some.

17.5. You always have someone to love.

I’m only counting this as half a point because it’s not really something I have to remember or usually even consciously acknowledge. It comes as easy as breathing, as easy as breathing. So, just for the record, love ya bro.