Imagine this: we all know how annoying it is to be mixed up with our siblings by the occasional slip of the tongue, but can you imagine being constantly called your twin siblings name when you are fraternal?
Five commonly asked questions when being a twin are:
1. Do you look alike?
2. Are you fraternal or identical? Or like separated at birth?
3. Can you read each other's minds?
4. Who is older?
5. Which one is the good one and which is the bad one?
These questions are asked on a daily basis by new friends and people we meet everyday. They grow extremely irritating even when meant in the most innocent and curious way.
There was a lot of cool things for me growing up with a twin sister, one of which being I always had a friend, no matter how annoyed we were with each other, we could always count on the other being there for each other. We often, throughout our adolescence, had the same friends and participated in the same school activities. As we got older it became less and less fun to be doing so much together. We truly paved our own paths in high school, while being complete opposites, we had very different interests and mindsets.
Something that was not so much fun was all the comparisons to twins. "Your sister did this, why can't you do that?" Or, "Your sister is an extravert, try and be more like her." It usually was the people at school or the teachers. As helpful as they thought they were being, wasn't us being different supposed to be a good thing?
Being referred to as "the twins" by friends was something we just became accustomed to, kinda like being treated as if we were one instead of two. With like birthday presents or shout outs on social media, we were always lumped together. And people wondered why we tried to create different lives once we got older. No, we didn't want to share a dorm room. We shared a womb and that was enough, also the same reason we tried to make separate friends once getting to college. When people assume we like the same things and do the same things, they couldn't be more wrong. We have very different personalities and hobbies. I think it's what makes us so special.
I am not sure what to call this, but growing up whenever my sister was upset, you would find me in the same mood. It was the same thing with her. Yes, we have great amounts of empathy for one another, but this was different. I will never be able to explain it but It has always made us closer I believe.
The best things about having a twin are truly discovered everyday, when we talk and laugh together. I am so grateful to have a friend who lives down the hall from me. Someone who will never share my secrets and always have my back. I would like to think I am so lucky to have my twin sister to have grown up with.
Love you sis.
