What's It Like To Be a Twin
The answer used to come with great ease
My answer wasn’t an answer at all, but a complimentary question,
“What’s it like to not be a twin?”
I bypassed the story of the grape jelly on mom’s new carpet when we were toddlers,
The 8 years of elementary school and junior high where we shared a classroom,
In 8 years I never had to write down an assignment, she was the conscientious one,
I played the violin, she played the piano, when my brother came home from the seminary UNSUPPORTED CODE WE UNSUPPORTED CODE gave him a concert
We weren’t identical, she was the cautious one, I was the adventurer
She took a job in high school, and when time came to retire, she was still working for that company,
On the other hand I changed employers every few years, “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”.
She never lived more than about 5 miles from our childhood home, yet in her travels to Europe she probably logged more passenger miles than I did including two tours of duty in Thailand and four on Guam.
Now I am alone, my coconspirator has passed on,
I’ll have to take blame for the jelly on the carpet, take down my own assignments, and do everything the same way that single birth people have always done.
What’s it like to be a twin?
It’s like no experience you have ever had, you’re always connected, you grow up with a built in playmate, you have someone that always takes a special interest in your wellbeing.
I realize all this now because she’s gone, now I see what it’s like to be a single birth and frankly, it’s a much bleaker existence than being a twin, to be more direct, being a single sucks, I want my twin back.
Copyright © Jim Martin | Year Posted 2015
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