For those of you who don't know I am an identical twin.
So while growing up I would always get the questions; "Do you know what your sister is thinking right now?" If I hit you right now would she feel it?" or would you be able to feel something was wrong if your sister got in an accident?" Hmmm...I don't know about you but these are three of the lamest questions in the world. I'm sorry I don't mean to offend for those of you who's curiosity got the better of them and you asked one of these questions before.
For the longest time I was always labeled as "the twin or twins." This would always drive me nuts. and as a result of this in my later years, I mostly do whatever I can to stay completely independent from my sister. Most of the time I don't tell people I have a twin unless they meet her and suddenly realize that we look REALLY similar or see a picture of us together.
I still get calls from my sister telling me that someone saw me somewhere and they thought I was her. They would try smiling or waving hi to me and I would look at them weird because I have no clue who they were. :-)
How were you labeled while growing up?
I'm not exactly sure how I was labelled growing up, but I know I was. I was the only non-white kid in my elementary school for a while so there were likely labels (but just not said to my face). I'm glad you are now appreciated for being you, and not part of a unit!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lydia! Thanks for sharing your experience
ReplyDeleteOh wow! It is neat to hear that emotion from a twin because I grew up with close friends where were twins and we always referred to them as "the twins." As we grew up and became our own people we did our best to separate them and call them each individually when inviting them places instead of just talking to one and asking them to talk to the other...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the perspective!
I was always David Shepard's sister. He is my older brother. He was very social and I wasn't. So, everyone knew him.
ReplyDeleteYou have a twin?!? Weird. I remember when I was young. I wasn't really labelled...I don't think. But I got called four eyes a lot because I wore glasses. Poor me.
ReplyDeleteEven though my twin sister and I looked very different we still always got called "the twins" or the even more dreaded "twinners." Now that I have twin boys of my own I find (and I am sure you can relate/imagine) that I am very candid with other about them getting labeled. It started when they were only a few weeks old, "So which one is the cranky one?" Etc. It's rough, either you are labeled as a unit set, or constantly compared against one another. It's been very interesting being on the other end.
ReplyDeleteHolly,
ReplyDeleteYes! I knew you would totally understand this post! thanks for sharing.
I'm just like you i have a twin and we became two very different personalities and I get those questions all the time that I just say the answer right away, it's just programmed in my head from saying it.
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