Twins: More Than Just Double Trouble

So many times I'm asked at school, "What is it like having a twin?" I've never really put much thought into it, as since the day I was born, I was always a twin. It's one of those things I take for granted everyday. Being universally accepted by others and by ourselves is what being a twin is really about.

When my brother and I were together, as we were most of the time growing up, people didn't have to know our names. We were always "the twins." My brother's friends automatically knew me, and my friends automatically knew him. We were instantly popular, albeit not quite the most popular kids at school but definitely on the map. We had a hook, we were twins. Throughout our school years, as kids struggled to set themselves apart from the rest in the way they looked, dressed, and acted, my brother and I already stood out from the crowd. This came in very handy when we moved from Chicago to Las Vegas. Being a twin made moving from one school to another much easier, as we made friends fast. We were easily accepted by our peers. We would make friends so fast that people didn't realize there were actually two of us. Strangers would come up to me thinking I was my brother and start talking with me. Of course I didn't want to be rude, so I was friendly back. Even to this day, I bet half the people that came up to me thinking I was my brother never realized that I wasn't really him, I just looked like him. I didn't really mind these funny, awkward situations because messing with people's minds is one of the benefits of being a twin.

Playing tricks on people another benefit of being a twin. It's just so much fun being able to trick and confuse people without ever really trying. To this day, even with 18 years of practice, our parent's still get us mixed up. Imagine how easy it is tricking other people when we can easily trick our parents. Besides our parents, tricking others is pretty fun too. In 8th grade we switched classes for a science project. My brother and I had the same science teacher, just different class periods. She assigned a group science project and to make things interesting, she let us choose the topic of the project. My brother and I decided to switch classes for our project and record exactly how well our teachers knew us. The hardest part of that day wasn't being in the classes posing as my brother, but rather getting to the right class at the right time and sitting in the right seat. This proved much difficult than we originally thought. Imagine asking for help from your peers on where exactly you sat. They caught on fast that I wasn't my brother and played along, trying to pull one over on the teacher. The results were interesting. Half of the teachers knew we traded places and half didn't. Having adventures like this is another great part about being a twin.

The attention that comes from being a twin really allows you opportunities that other kids simply do not have. One of the most exciting moments about being a twin happened in elementary school. Being little, all of my peers found it pretty neat that there was another copy of me floating around somewhere at school. The kids weren't the only ones who were interested in my being a twin. The teachers loved it, and when it came time to plan the winter school musical, the school turned to my brother and me to host the event. Being in elementary school, this was huge. My brother and I were thrilled. We practiced and practiced and when the big day came, we were ready to go. The coolest part about hosting the musical was when we were talking and giving introductions to the bands and the songs, we were in sync, meaning that we talked at the same pace and at the same time. The best part, as being the twins that we were, we shared the cue cards with my brother holding one end of the card, and me holding the other end. It was an amazing sight to not only see but to hear. Sharing those cue cards was natural for us, as we shared everything. This experience sticks deep in my mind, as do a lot of memories of my brother and me.

Being a twin means you automatically have someone you can talk to for the rest of your life. We're brothers, but being twins, we're a little closer than brothers who grow up years apart. Having someone growing up with you your own age that's so close to you mean we're more than just brothers in that we share a unique, universal acceptance between each other. We sometimes say the same things or think the same things when we're around each other. That never gets old. Just like best friends and siblings do, we fight a lot. Sometimes it's over stupid stuff but eventually everything gets worked out and we're back to normal. No matter what though, being a twin means you have someone to mess with and play jokes on and just in general hang out with. Having a lot of the same things in common, we always find things to talk about. When it comes to friendship, being a twin is like having a best friend who'll stick with you no matter what.

So what is it like being a twin? Some people say when it comes to twins, there's an evil one, and a good one. When it comes to my brother and me, we're both evil, but being twins, we're universally accepted. That's what being a twin is really about.