Ever since I was born there have been three of me. Well, not exactly. You see, I’m a triplet. My better two thirds are comprised of my sister Mackenzie and my brother Will. We have been through everything together. Though I don’t have any experience to compare it to, growing up as a triplet is extremely different than just having older or younger siblings.
When I say we have been through everything together, I mean it. Having people that are exactly the same age as you going through each stage of life together, it is something really special I am lucky enough to say I had and continue to each day. Imagine never being alone through anything, standing side by side next to the closest people in your life graduating high school, taking prom pictures with your dates, sharing each birthday, playing on sports teams together. It is something special.
I sat right next to my sister during graduation and we did it together. Throughout high school we were in many of the same classes because we all tried to remain at the top of our class academic wise. But we all knew once graduation came we would be heading off our separate ways to wherever our dreams took us.
And that was a scary thought considering we had spent our entire lives together. Cheering each other on at our sporting events, attending family parties, or just hanging out together in our kitchen. My brother would always come into my room and start saying the silliest things, putting on my sister’s clothes and doing anything to make us laugh. At times it would bother Mackenzie and I, thinking he was annoying us or getting in the way. But thinking that those times would soon be gone, that I wouldn’t have my brother be upstairs if I ever needed him, or Mackenzie if I needed her too. It is a scary thought knowing that you’re about to leave your siblings and live miles away from them. The three of us were so used to being there it was like we couldn’t even imagine not.
Never in a million years we could have guessed what happened next. No one could have, not me, not my parents, not our friends. We all applied to our schools and waited to hear back so we could make our final decisions. And in the end, we all decided to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the fall of 2013. That was something that blew all our minds away. Just think about it, out of all the colleges in the world each have us could have gone too, somehow we all ended up at the same one. Sounds a lot like fate to me, or just relief to my parents who then wouldn’t have to drive each of us different ways on different days each time we headed back to school. It was exciting now that we all were going to start our future together, not apart.
So in late August, we packed our bags into two separate cars, and started our future together, unexpected but wonderful all the same. It’s great having your siblings at college with you, especially the ones who are the same age because you’re all going through this new craziness together. And through that, when life hits you hard, your brother or sister is right there for you.
Somehow my sister and I ended up on the same floor in the same building. How that happened I will never know. My brother lives in a dorm not too far away either. I will always have these people there to take care of me, and me to take care of them. When you’re a triplet, you’re never alone. And I guess to some people that sounds like a bad thing. But when you have two amazing people by your side, you can get through anything. They’re there for the occasional family dining hall dinner or lunch, to take classes together, to bear the long car rides back, and basically just be there whenever, wherever, no questions asked.
I don’t think the surprised looks I get when I tell people I’m a triplet will ever get old. They start asking you a bunch of questions. Do you all look alike? Where do they go to school? And when you tell them you all somehow ended up at UMass Amherst, they become even more shocked.
I’m lucky to say I go to college, supposedly the best time of our lives, with my triplet siblings. It has had its ups and downs, but so far it has been an amazing experience. And I know it will continue to be!