Day 15: Twindom

Today I read on Yahoo that National Geographic did a feature in their January 2012 issue about twins, and I thought that might be something interesting to write about.

Being an identical twin myself, I never quite understood the complete awe that people expressed when me and my twin were together (and/or dressed alike, as was often the case when we were children).  To me, having a twin sister was completely normal, especially since I had nothing else to compare it to.  My mom planned on having two kids, or so the story goes, and she got both of them at once with me and my sister.  So I had no other siblings growing up, and thus didn't really know what it was like to look up to an older brother/sister or be a role model to a younger sibling.

Then this past semester, I got to know a fellow who was an identical twin too.  I met his twin this spring (which was really before I knew him too well), and finally I understood why everyone thought that twins were so fascinating!  His brother looked exactly like him!  We've found some common ground in what it's like to be a twin - the experience of my relationship to my sister is very similar to his relationship to his twin.  It's so neat.

Though when I was growing up, all the kids at school could tell me and my sister apart.  The teachers were a different matter, I guess if you hang around a pair of twins long enough, the little differences come out.  Then again, we did (and still do, though we've both changed since high school) have distinct personalities.  I was always the shy one and my twin was always the more outgoing one. And I like to think that I have a somewhat deeper voice than my sister (at the very least, another of my friends noticed the contrast in our voices after talking to both of us on the phone this summer).

Something that happens when you're a twin, though, is that you don't quite become your own person.  You always seem to be part of that pair - no one associates you with yourself; you're part of that twin couple.  Growing up, I feel like I didn't have a very solid sense of my self because of that.  As hard as it's been, I think it's been a good thing that me and my sis went to different colleges a year and a half ago.  I finally developed a sense of who I was in relation to myself. It's nice to be known for who I am now, not for being a twin.  It's cool when I do tell people though.

And for the record, me and my twin don't really have a physic thing going on, at least I don't think so.  We do occasionally finish each other's sentences though. :)