They laugh alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alikeJanuary 8th, 2008 @ 7:01 am
When I was in middle school I rode the bus with the two most beautiful girls I had ever seen (at that point in my life). They were in high school, had long gorgeous black hair, beautiful smiles, good teeth, and were identical twins. I was jealous that they were lucky enough to be able to look at their twin sister and know how drop dead beautiful they were.
In high school there was a set of twins in the grade below me. The boy was tall and had red hair. The girl was short, but also had red hair. While, of course, they weren’t identical, you could tell they belonged to each other. Another set of twins in high school seemed to have been swapped in the womb. The boy was very feminine and his sister was super masculine.
As mentioned before I was raised along side my uncles, who also happened to be twins. One was tall and ultra handsome. The other was short and stocky. Both were nice guys. They were just 100% different from the other one. One grew up and came out of the closet and the other is married with two kids. Oh yes, so different.
A few months ago I attended a baby shower for a friend that lives an hour outside of the city. I didn’t know anyone at the shower and felt very out of place. (Especially since it was in the ‘burbs. I don’t fit in there.) During the “mingling” section of the party I noticed a women that looked very familiar to me. Naturally I approached her and told her I thought I knew her. She began to list off a number of places where I might know her from. She told me where she volunteered. I told her that wasn’t where I’d seen her before. She told me where she lived. I told her I’d never been anywhere near there.
She kept listing off places where I might have seen her. All of which were not the least bit familiar to me. The it hit me; I had met her at a church function in the city a few months back. Then it hit her; I had met her identical twin sister.
Dude, in all of this her first thought wasn’t that I had maybe met her twin? I mean, this woman was probably sixty years old. This couldn’t have been the first time that someone had mistook her for her identical twin sister!
Dude. I’m still in shock that it took us that long to figure it all out.
Twins are much more common these days, what with fertility drugs and the like. I’m confident that Babboo will go to school with more twins then I ever did. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to school with triplets at some point. There is one set of twins at his school currently.
The King’s sister has a set of twins. One boy. One girl. They are almost exactly one year older then Babboo, but he’s just as big as they are. The girl is clearly the Alpha Male of the three of them. While I love her to pieces, I’m patiently waiting the day when Babboo and the other twin gang up on her and take over. It will be a glorious day at our house.
Heidikins has an identical twin sister who she recently told me is nothing like her. Yes they do look the same, but inside they are very different. I think this is just so fascinating. How you can come from the exact same womb, from the exact same parents, look exactly the same and yet be so different? I can’t even imagine what it must be like to look at a person and know that you look exactly the same as they do. You truly know how you look. There is no blaming it on a “bad mirror” or “bad lighting”.
You truly know.
So tell me, what is your experiences with twins in your life?
————
Hey, are any of you into reading good books? Do you love making commentary in your head while you read? Well then, you have got to sign up for FluentBrittish’s Super Duper Blogger Book Exchange right this second. I signed up for this on her first round and loved it. Really, click over and sign up. (But she’ll only take you if you’re dependable.)
(May, you really should do this. I know you just had a baby-but this is right up your alley.)
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I think I forgot to mention that tomorrow morning (at 5 am-but let’s not talk about that part), Babboo and I are flying out to visit my family. My parents bought me a plane ticket for my Christmas present and I’m just giddy about this trip. (Especially since The King was going to be away for a business trip anyway, and I hate being home alone.)
Anyway, you’d better miss me while I’m gone. (Because I know I’ll miss you.)
Blog addiction · Random · Back in the day
Carrisa
said,
January 8, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Ah the Patty Duke show, such good memories I have from watching that on Nick at Night.
There were 12 sets of twins in my graduating class. So many that we gave them their own section at graduation. Of course the principle’s twins were in my class so it may have had something to do with that.
I would love to have twin girls. My best friend has 10 yr old fraternal twin girls and I love them so.
Keri
said,
January 8, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I used to always wish I could have an identical twin so I could do pranks. (Like in Parent Trap)
I am always enthralled about shows on TLC, etc that showcase twins, quints, quads, etc.
Operation Pink Herring
said,
January 8, 2008 at 6:15 pm
10% of my graduating high school class was twins.
what does it say about me, that as I was reading your story, the first thing that came to my mind was how awesome it would be to be able to play that trick on people you didn’t like — say, some douchebag that I know, but really hate, comes up to me in the grocery store and wants to chat. i could just tell them that they must have me confused with my twin sister and walk off! You know, I think I might just start doing that. From now on, I have a twin.
Audrey
said,
January 8, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I too am shocked that that woman didn’t immediately think you must have met her twin sister. Weird!
My mother-in-law had difficulty conceiving her 3rd child. I don’t know if she went through IVF or antyhing, but I do know that my sister-in-law (Tim’s younger sis, the third child) had a twin. I think the twin was stillborn; it’s not really discussed much. I sometimes wonder if my SIL has any of those “twin feelings” where you feel connected to your twin. I wonder if she misses her twin on some level. She’s one of the most outgoing and bubbly people I know (in a good way), so it doesn’t seem to affect her much at all. But I still wonder about it from time to time.
Alison
said,
January 8, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I’m a twin and if someone comes up to me and says hello, acting as though they know me, and I’ve never seen them, I immediatly ask them if they know my sister. I’ve had people hug me in a department store, run up to me at a restaurant….The best and worst part is telling them that I’m not who they think I am…Then, I have to ask them who they are, and it finally dawns on them that I really have no idea who they are!
Emily
said,
January 8, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I’ve always been intrigued with twins too. Like if there is some Dateline show about them, you better believe I’m watching.
Rachel
said,
January 8, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Two of my best friends in high school were twins. They were fraternal, but looked almost identical. They were alot alike in alot of ways too. They were both built the same and all that and their personalities were alot alike too.
Rhi
said,
January 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I signed up for the book exchange. ALL YOUR FAULT
Elizabeth
said,
January 8, 2008 at 7:31 pm
My husband is a twin. And while we don’t live near enough for them to confuse people, we do have a problem when we go to the church in their hometown. See, those folks were used to seeing his brother and his fiance (whom he met there). SO after they got married (which they all attended… small church) and moved away, every time my husband and I visited and went to church, those people got all up in arms because they thought my husband was his brother and I was some other woman! That was 6 years ago and those people still get confused.
Liza
said,
January 8, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I’m too much of a book horder to be good at the exchange part. But it’s a very cool idea!
I became friends with identical twin girls when I was in 7th grade, and at first, I could only tell them apart by hair length, and later eyebrow shape. But over time, I became much closer to one than the other, and now, I can’t tell you how different they are. Really, it makes as much sense as being different from any other sibling, doesn’t it?
My friend does have the most romantic love story EVAH, though, because she’s a twin. She met her husband because he was the best man in her twin sister’s wedding.
Kiraa
said,
January 8, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I went to school with triplets. One boy, two girls. None of them looked alike and the girls were total bitches while the boy was completely submissive to them. I found them recently on Myspace and they’ve changed a lot - though the girls are still bitches.
My family is twin-happy. I have two sets of aunts that are twins and like five sets of cousins that are twins. I think it’s totally surreal to think that identical genes can produce two different people (personality wise) - it’s a total vote for nature vs. nuture, eh?
Have fun on your trip!
heidikins
said,
January 8, 2008 at 9:11 pm
My twin and I are so very little alike that I have a hard time understanding twins that do everything together and finish each other’s sentences and stuff. That, to me, is crazy.
There must have been something in the water of my hometown, because we had somethink like 13 or 14 sets of twins in my grade… seriously, it was insane. EVERYONE was a twin, several identical sets, and after like 2nd grade it stopped being a big deal to anyone.
xox
SJ
said,
January 8, 2008 at 9:52 pm
My mother in law is a twin, her brother however passed away at the age of 18 as he had some disability. My son’s middle name was chosen in honor of him.
I grew up living next door to twins - they weren’t identical at all and were nothing alike.
My nephew has twin girls. They aren’t identical but dude, I can’t tell them apart at all!
One of my girlfriends has triplet boys in her family - two look identical, the third looks different. And even more strange? Their fourth child (a girl)? Looks like the triplet that doesn’t look like the other two. If that made ANY sense.
I think twins are very fascinating. I wish I knew more!
Britt
said,
January 8, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I think it would be so weird to have someone out there who looks just like me. I have twins in my Activity Days group and I just call out one of their names and see which ones comes running. That’s how I tell them apart.
Oh and I won’t miss you while you’re gone. Sorry.
(wink! wink!)
Lisa B
said,
January 8, 2008 at 11:11 pm
YEAY for surprise plane tickets as Christmas presents. Especially from the parents. That sounds like a wonderful gift for you, Babboo AND them!
Have fun and will be thinking of you and missing you.
(Have been out of the blogosphere lately but am back and so happy to be reading you again!)
May
said,
January 9, 2008 at 1:42 am
I love Pink Herring’s comment. And funny you should bring up this topic, I was just thinking how glad I was to have one bebe at a time. And I totally clicked on the Book Exchange link BEFORE I EVEN SAW YOUR SHOUT OUT! Also, I saw Juno on Saturday & it’s my new favorite movie.
gorillabuns
said,
January 9, 2008 at 3:17 am
i have a best friend who is a twin and she is nothing like her even though she looks like her.
sidenote: i always wanted to have twins because i love the dynamics interchange. i love the fact that indenticals look so much alike but act so differently.
Chas
said,
January 9, 2008 at 5:51 am
I am fascinated by twins, as are many people apparently. I have taught several sets of twins, all of which appeared identical. There was only once set that I never really could tell apart even at the end of the school year..I just couldn’t do it. And of course, I was pregnant with twins, but that experience doesn’t really give me a twin experience, if that makes sense. It just makes me wonder if that other baby would have looked like my daughter or if it was a boy even.
liz
said,
January 9, 2008 at 5:57 am
i fear that i will have twins, should we decide to give pregnancy another go. i can’t imagine how darn hard it would be. my grandmother was a twin. i have two sets of twin cousins. my husband’s father is a twin (one of four sets - he was one of 16 children), my husband’s brother has twin sons. it could happen, but my mother has promised to get me a nanny if it does.
helenel
said,
January 9, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I have boy/girl twins - they are 3 1/2. I love having one of each, and I love that, at 43, I am DONE with the whole pregnancy thing.
However, as a friend of mine (with twins because God knows we all know eachother) once said, she mourns the one baby experience that she didn’t get to have: baby yoga, lots of one-on-one time, that kind of thing. Whenever I read amalah or antique mommy and the special times they have with their boys, it makes me sad, because it’s hard to get that quality alone time with each kid, given classes and school and errands, etc. Everything just requires so much more effort. Not that it isn’t worth it, it’s just that /everything/ takes so much more effort. It is nice that they always have someone to play with, though. And I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
Now that I have twins, a lot of my friends who had fertility issues (like I did) are afraid to go for that second child because they don’t want twins or higher order multiples. I guess I don’t make it look very easy, do I? :^)
A lot of people ask “How do you do it?” and you know, you just suck it up and DO it however you can, whether it’s it’s one or two or three. (Aiiee! Three!)
Christar
said,
January 10, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I always thought the same thing. How much you could really see how you look, and if you said ‘I’m ugly’, would your twin get offended?
Shaun’s two older brothers are twins, and they aren’t anything alike either. One is very liberal, longer hair, kind of a hippie, and other other is pretty conservative, short hair, yet they’re still pretty close.
loralee
said,
January 12, 2008 at 7:21 am
I am not in the least surprised that it took you so long to figure it out.
I NEVER assume that people have met MY twin sister.
AND…
We are both opera singers and so it “REALLY” freaks out people who had worked with one of us in one city and the other in a different one.
And?
I do not like being a twin.
angela
said,
January 12, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I was fairly good friends with a set of twins when I was in high school. They weren’t identical and weren’t alike at all personality-wise either, but so many people got them mixed up for some reason. I think that’s partially because people just knew them as “the twins” but never took the time to know them individually, which is why at times being a twin probably really sucks.
Adria Sha
said,
January 13, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I knew a few sets of twins growing up but didn’t think much about them. I had boy/girl twins 3 years ago and think they’re just amazing. I feel very very blessed to be the mom of twins, and I’m glad they’re not identical.
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