10 Questions I Am Asked As A Twin

1. Are You Identical Or Fraternal?

My sister and I are fraternal twins, but that doesn't mean that we don’t get our fair share of being mistaken for one another. We have confused many poor people, even to this day.

Though, admittedly, it probably doesn't help that we’re employed at the same place. Oops.

My mom would dress us up in matching outfits in our early years despite the obvious differences between us, but we were quick to put a stop to that when we could dress ourselves. Now my sister and I try our damndest to look as different as possible with haircuts, style and clothes.

2. How Long Were You Born Apart?

Well, my sister and I were a special case so my twin is a whole 32 minutes older than me (Yeah, I’m the baby). I was particularly disagreeable, unable to stay in one place, so it almost warranted a c-section. Thankfully, I decided to put everyone out of their misery the natural way, so yay me.

3. What’s It Like Having A Twin?

I believe that the common misconception that people have about having a twin is that they think, ‘I’m an awesome person! It would be cool to have another me to talk to.’ But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Twins -identical or otherwise- have completely different personalities, interests, taste, etc. It’s not like having a clone of yourself, it’s just like being with anyone else the exact same age as yourself. My sister and I have separate thoughts, feelings and outlooks on things.

Though, I did get lucky, so my twin and I have quite a bit in common because of our similar upbringing. We rarely don’t see eye to eye when it comes to media or interests, but on the occasion that we do, we don’t hold it against each other.

4. Is Twin ESP Real?

For those who don’t know what that is, Twin ESP is the idea that twins share a special connection beyond that of ordinary siblings, endowed with extraordinary -seemingly telepathic- qualities.

I personally believe that this conundrum is real and exists, but probably not to the extent that everyone thinks. For example, we can’t hear each other's thoughts or feel one another’s physical pain, but the connection is definitely there. For my sister and I, it’s more like a gut feeling. Like something is or is about to go wrong.

Though, in all honesty, it depends on who you ask.

For example: When we were at our friend’s house, I was upstairs and my sister was downstairs. I was having a conversation with said friend when I stopped and suddenly got a horrible feeling in my gut. So I moved, my body taking me to where I needed to go.

My sister had been told something rude and horrible by our friend's younger sister and was crying in the bathroom so I went to comfort her. I have no idea how I knew that she was distressed, but I did and it blew my mind.

5. Do You Share Everything With Your Twin?

Uh, yeah. For my sister and I that is a given. Like literally everything. Friends, clothes, books, food, drinks, space, supplies, shampoo, etc. Unless one of us states that something is explicitly off limits, everything is fair game.

Though we did have a huge fight that lasts to this day over who owned a particular black shirt that had adorable little penguins scattered about it. So that’s still in effect. (It was mine.)

Unfortunately, it’s been especially hard with this Covid-19 stuff going around cause now everyone comments on our unconscious tendency to share. Like, it’s gotten to the point where we share things without even thinking about it, so we've accidentally gotten each other sick several times.

One time, when my twin gave me her can of Coke to finish at work, one of our coworkers muttered under his breath, “How does Covid taste?” Which, rude. It’s not like I coughed on you or anything. Jeez.

Some people will obviously find this quirk of ours distasteful, but we deal.

6. How Long Did You Share A Room?

My sister and I shared a room until we were about eleven years old. And I know. That’s a long ass time to be in each other’s space. We had two sets of bunk beds in that time frame and I ended up on the top bunk with the second one. My mom waited until it got to the point where I’d sit up and hit my forehead on the ceiling to move me into my own room.

And no, I wasn’t too thrilled with the change. It’s like going to sleep with a fan and the minute that you don’t have the fan anymore, it makes it hard to sleep. I was so used to her being in the room with me that being alone felt wrong and I didn’t adjust very well.

And now we’re back to sharing since we have to sleep in the living room while we renovate our house...sigh...there’s no winning.

7. Did You Copy Off Of Each Other’s Homework?

Of course! Though, who wouldn’t? I was always more academically inclined than my sister so I was usually ahead in most of our classes. I helped out by either assisting with homework the old fashioned way or just having her copy it if that was the easier option. I was kind of an enabler, but I did try to actually tutor my twin when I could, even if she can be incredibly stubborn.

We’re no longer in school, but this still applies to everyday life. If she needs help and I have the answers, I’m giving them away without a fee.

8. Do Twins Fight A Lot?

We have fights just like any other siblings would. They can be just as brutal and cruel too. Though my sister and I have a habit of getting over whatever we were fighting about given enough time away from each other to cool off.

Who am I kidding? I’m a paper man and it never takes more than 24 hours to forgive each other no matter how intense the conflict. I just hate being mad at her over dumb stuff and being upset takes a surprising amount of energy. By the time the day is up, we’re pretty much done with being angry.

We got asked this a lot -especially in high school- because my sister and I communicated predominantly through bickering, so it sounded like we were always pissed at each other. We weren’t and it was mostly just playful banter or good-natured squabbling.

9. Do You Ever Get Sick Of Each Other?

Absolutely. Sometimes things get suffocating and being with someone twenty four-seven does not help. So we’d take breaks. When we were younger my Nana would take one of us while our Dad would spend the day with the other. As we got older, we just spent time with our friends separately and understood that both of us needed space sometimes even with how much we usually got along.

We normally caught onto the fact that we needed a break before we could have a huge fight so we acted accordingly and were fine.

10. How Would You Describe Your Twin?

She is definitely out there and unique, which is what I love about her. Her individuality is astounding and her mind is amazing. She’s smart, creative, funny, kind, and all around just a fantastic person to hang out with. There is no other person I would rather have as my twin, as cheesy as that sounds, it’s the truth.