“Hi Andrew!”

“Nope, my name is Alex.”

“Oh sorry, I thought you were Andrew. You guys look a lot alike.”

“Yeah, we're twins.”

Having a twin has its ups and downs. You're called the wrong name constantly, and people get you confused, but it also means you have someone by your side, forever and always.

Hi, my name is Alex Perlak, not Andrew Perlak, and if you couldn't tell, I'm a twin. Andrew and I are what we call mirror imaged identical twins. We have to be the opposite at everything such as sports teams, colors, the way we dress and the music we listen to. It's pretty cool how we were born identical, but developed personalities so different from each other.

My brother and I are best of friends, and at times, it is fun to have a twin. When you aren't being called the wrong name, having a twin is so much fun. You get to do everything together. He is there for me whenever I need him and I'm there for him. We like to go bowling together, watch TV and eat ice cream together.

Right now, as we go to different colleges, it feels weird not having him by my side. When I wake up, he isn't there next to me. Like I said, we used to do everything together. College is meant for you to find yourself and without him here, I found myself outside of being a twin. At home, everyone would compare us, but in college, I feel I can express individualism more, and be myself to a degree where I don't have people comparing me to him. I do miss him, but being apart has its perks. One other perk is that I don't have people constantly calling me Andrew; although, this one time, one of my professors called me by my brother’s name and it caught me off guard because he had no way of knowing who he was.

Before college, the longest we've been apart was only a week. This was definitely a big change and I will get to see him again over the holiday break. We miss each other but we both feel like we can express ourselves more on our own. I love being a twin because I always have a buddy, a person to talk to, and just a friend who will eat ice cream with me. I love my twin!

Written for Andrew!