The life of a twin

Kayla Kolpitcke

More stories from Kayla Kolpitcke

Having a sibling is cool enough, but having a sibling who is only a few minutes younger (or older I guess) is pretty much the best. It can only be beat by being a triplet, quadruplet, or such, but that’s not the point. For me, there is a few things that pop into my head when people me about having a twin. Here is the top ten thoughts about the life of a twin.

  1. BFF? Who needs that? I have a twin. I mean, really, we’ve been together since the day we were born. Going to school on the first day of kindergarten and making new friends wasn’t that stressful. I knew that my twin was right next to me and that even if I didn’t talk to anyone, I would still have him.
  2. Twin Day. Sound familiar? For me it was the day in elementary school each year where you “Twin with someone.” Sarcastic comments all day long. Saying, “Hmmm. I wonder who Kayla and Ryan are being twins with,” as they’re looking right at us. “Oh, that right! Hahaha!” Yeah, that was annoying. There’s also the other side of that, “Why didn’t you dress the same. You have to twin with your actual twin!” No actually I wanted to do it with my friend over here but thanks for your input.
  3. Sorry to burst your bubble, but, no, twins do not have the power to communicate telepathically. We have to rely on regular speaking. Yeah, I know, disappointing. Although, sets of twins have been known to invent their own language when they’re young. And yes, according to my parents, my twin and I did this. Unfortunately, I don’t remember any of it.
  4.  Twins share everything. “Is this yours or mine?” Who knows, because we have all the same stuff and if we do manage to get something of our own, the inevitable, “Share your things!” always follows. Imagine sharing your birthday! For the record, the Happy Birthday song loses any and all rhythm when people try to fit two names into it.
  5. Plenty of good things come from being a twin though too. For example, whichever twin is older has the privilege of being able to say, “I’m older so you have to listen to me.” Granted this usually starts the argument of, “No, we’re the same age. You aren’t older.” But still, being able to answer the question of who’s older with “I am,” is nice.
  6. There is also the fact that you know them better than anyone. Sometimes it gets a little freaky. Like those time when your mom will ask you where you brother is and, even though you don’t know, you can make a good guess and have it be correct. Or they will mumble something indiscernible and you know what they said or were trying to say when no one else had a clue.
  7. There are two common responses when you mention that you have a twin. One is, “Oh, you guys look so alike!” The other one is, “Wait, really? You guys don’t look like each other at all!” Believe me. I’ve gotten both strangely enough. By the way, we do not look the same.
  8. I was also remembered with the help of another twin-cough Natalie cough- that twins automatically get associated with each other. If your twin does something stupid, well then someone is going to say, “Hey isn’t that so and so’s twin?” A lot of the time, the phrase “the twins,” is said more than your actual names.
  9. The competitiveness is insane. I actually don’t know if this is a common factor for twins or just siblings in general, but competition is a very common factor in our lives. It can be over the stupidest things, but the back of your mind is just whispering for you to go and do it better. Even when the logical part of you is saying, “No. Don’t do that. You don’t need to win.” This definitely happens to me, and I just can’t stop myself from turning things into a competition.
  10. Finally, the last one is the mixture of surprise and excitement that comes when you find another set of twins. One of my favorite stories is from a hockey camp I went to. We all introduced each other with a fact about ourselves. I usually use the fact that I’m a twin and I was more than a little shocked when three other girls also said that they had a twin. And two of them had twin brothers like me. The chances of us all being together in a group of only twenty people was unbelievable. This incident automatically made me friends with three strangers who I still keep in touch with.

Living the life of a twin is amusing, exasperating, and more than a little crazy all at the same time. Just trust me on this. Let me tell all of you without a twin, you are really missing out.