The Truth About What It’s Really Like to be an Identical Twin

Identical twins or Monozygtic twins by the scientific name are  almost Always born of the same sex and their traits and physical appearances are very similar but not exact, although, their DNA is almost identical. The environmental conditions both in the womb and throughout identical twins lives enables and influences them to be able to switch on and off various genes.

Being born as an identical twin, people always say to me what is it like being a twin, or I wish I had a twin, would that ever be cool! These people often have the misconception, regardless of any type of thought, that it just would just be a lot of fun being a twin and admittedly, sometimes it is but other times it is not so nice! For example, identical means the same however;contrary to belief, just because 2 people look alike doesn’t mean they are the same person. Twins are two separate individuals with different personalities and different qualities. I think today I would like to cover the most important areas about being a twin opening up what it really is like to be a one.

I remember as a child my sister Tracy,who I call my sister and not my twin and vise versa, used to be the best of friends,obviously because we were the same age and lived with one another we would automatically have a bond, but going far beyond that, yes some twins are susceptible to picking up on things about how their other half feels, not necessarily if she gets hurt you feel the pain, no you just have a sensory/perception that there is something is wrong and it can be from great distances. I suppose in that sense it clears up a lot of misguided thoughts right from the get go.

(Above:Tracy and I in our grandmothers porch waiting to pet the dog,the sofa was the dog’s bed.)

Being a twin can be fun, for example in school, it was quite easy to replace one another in classes, although, I recall only doing this once on a friends dare. We traded classrooms and then both asked our teachers, along with our friends who were in on it, if they noticed anything different. The teachers were oblivious to the change and after class we both fessed up telling the teachers what we had done.

Again being the best of friends also gives on a sense of satisfaction because we could tell one another our troubles without judgment. On the downside while growing up twins virtually have to share everything which is not so nice because we were two separate individuals with different tastes. Birthdays cakes were always shared and certain things such as each getting a sled was out of the question,no we would be bought a toboggan to share! And yes we were bought the same clothes until we got older which we both very much hated!

(Above:Tracy and I checking out our uncles new corvette.We were dressing differently at this point, however;we felt it best to sport his company tee shirt for the picture. (LOL))

My sister Tracy was the bossy, outgoing one that didn’t take no for an answer, while I was the shy, smart one, always with my head stuck in a book or my pen on the paper. Although, with that said, admittedly now because I was smart I would play with her ego convincing her many times she was the best for the job in order to get myself out of the job. She used to get so angry that my mom and dad saw me as an angel when she very well knew I was not. (LOL)

I suppose the biggest thing to consider about being a twin is that everything becomes a competition, there is nothing that is acceptable. If she did one thing then I had to do something better and vise versa. To be honest others did it as well, always making the comparisons, while at the same time we both knew this so we damn well tried our hardest to both stand out as individuals and not as a set of twins.

I can honestly say as twins the thing we hated most was being called the others name, I could not stand being called Tracy and she could not stand being called Tanya and obviously both being of the Aries sign we were always always quick to flare up our anger at the person calling the wrong name. I still hate being called Tracy!I think the things we enjoyed the most is no matter what we always had one another.

(Above:Myself and Tracy getting ready to celebrate our 20th although I think at this point we were already beyond celebrating with 1 bottle of jack daniels already gone,hence the stupid looks on our faces.)

As time passed and my sister and I grew older we both began to go our own separate ways as everyone eventually does, although, it didn’t mean we were not still friends we just began to realize who we were as individuals. She went in one direction and I went in the other. She died her hair blond and I grew mine long,when she began to grow hers long I cut mine and got it permed. I traveled all across Canada living in many different cities while she was a homebody sticking close to home. She became a wonderful chef while I became a horticulturist yet I never stopped writing. Honestly I will admit she used to write some wonderful songs and she has a nac for it, blowing me right out of the water but as far as writing goes,fiction or non fiction she could never hold a candle to me.(LOL) You see there I go again with the competition, however;at least now I will openly admit when she is better at something.

(Above:Tracy recieving some awards for being the best chef at culinary competitions.)

(Above:This was roughly taken at the same time as time as Tracy’s photo,it was just after I had designed some convent gardens at which you can view on this link : Bethany Gardens)

As years passed my sister and I grew more distant from one another but yet closer to an extent. She always knew when something was wrong with me and I about her, how you may ask,we dreamed it, knowing the dream was showing us that something was wrong. We have always been like that and thinking back I remember as a little kid we both used to dream of one another being in the same dream, however; one night when we were five while we were flying together on our little beds Tracy fell off hers. She began falling fast, rolling towards oblivion so in the dream I jumped off my bed and dived towards her, screaming at her her to take my hand but she kept falling faster and faster, screaming she couldn’t reach it. It was then I woke up on the floor. Getting myself up, I went to her bed and shook her telling her to wake up but she wouldn’t open her eyes. I ran to my parents rooms sobbing, “Mommy, daddy, get up I think Tracy is dead, she fell and I couldn’t catch her.”

My parents rushed her to the hospital, she had a serious case of  pneumonia which sent her body into shock something she could not awake from. They put her on the drip and antibiotics and when she finally came around a week later she looked at me, smiled and said, “I stopped falling!” I explained to her she fell too fast for me to grab her hand but she already knew that, as I did.

To extend on dreams we are not just able to dream of one another but of other people as well. I remember when my grandfather died before I knew he had died I called my mother and told her I had a dream that I was taking my grandfather from the hospital down a long flight of stairs to a large parking lot surrounded by an ocean. Reaching the bottom of the stairs he gave me a kiss on the cheek and I grabbed him, giving him a big hug and asked him if he was okay. He told me he loved me and that all would be well and then told me not to worry about him. He disappeared after the third time of telling me not to worry and I awoke from this dream feeling rather happy and content. My mother said “Tracy just called and described a similar dream, you two are strange like that.” With a long pause she then said “I’m sorry but grampy died last night.” This is just but one incident of many such as this so to answer questions about this type of thing, twins are more susceptible to esp as well as other unexplained phenomenas.

Anyways to get back to the story as years passed my sister and I grew even more and more apart but I still think about her as she does me, that I am quite sure of. It is amazing where the journey of life will take you and you find yourself in places you least expected and though when you are younger you have so many dreams and plans,some never get accomplished because they are no longer your dreams. We both dreamed of many things together but through time and distance those dreams change as it does with everyone so much that sometimes we barely know one as we once did.

I think the main point I want to make throughout all of this is by being a twin you struggle to have people know you as separate individual which we have both done most of our lives. So in the end it is nice to be a twin, there is a bond that cannot be broken, nor compared to unless you are a twin, although, again it does have it downsides. Because of the word identical you become a naturally competitive person who continually wants to be set apart from the other person who shares your looks. You want people to see and recognize you for you and not for your twin.

I haven’t spoke with my sister in almost one year. I suppose it is due time I call her but even though I always enjoy talking to her, we do have many differences now and to be blunt for the most part of the conversation I spend it listening to her and what she has been doing, basically it is an all about her and never about me type of conversation (LOL) her bossy side coming out. Dialing the number now, “Hello Trace!”

“Hi Tan! I knew you were going to call.”