For some time now, I have been a twin, my whole life actually. For the longest time, my sister and I have dealt with the strangest questions and the oddest requests. Finally, I decided to sit down with her and try to figure out why people are so confounded by the concept of twins.
Caroline: What are some common questions that you get asked a lot as a twin?
Lucy: Where do I even start? I’ve gotten so many… “Can you read her mind? Can you feel each other’s pain? What’s she thinking right now? Are you identical? So you guys are like the same person, right? I know a pair of boy twins who would be perfect for you two!”
C: “Are you the good twin or the evil twin?”
L: (laughs) Exactly, yeah. People can be so intrusive after you tell them one little thing about yourself.
C: We have another older sister who is not our twin, is that relationship any different from ours?
L: Certainly, but it’s so hard to explain. I mean, you and I shared a room as kids, we did a lot of the same extracurriculars growing up, and so we share a lot of the same interests. Not to say that we don’t have anything in common with our other sister, she’s wonderful. I think just because you are more like me, we understand each other better.
C: I get that, we can finish each other’s sentences because we know each other so well, but I don’t think that’s any creepier than friends who do that too.
L: Exactly. Questions like, “Did you get switched at birth, are you really you?” also make me really upset.
C: For real! It’s rude to say something like that about how our parents or hospital staff took care of us when we were young, that’s something that was out of our control. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t even matter anymore: we are who we are now. I’m myself, and you are your own person.
L: We’re whole adults and real people in our own right separate from each other.
C: Is there anything else you’d like to say to people who have questions about twins?
L: Don’t believe all the nonsense media puts about pairs of twins who try to be more like each other for fame or are purposefully playing into creepy stereotypes. Those are outliers and should not be counted at face value. Twins can be incredibly interesting outside of their relationship with their sibling if you try to get to know them as individuals.