Happy Birthday to Me. And Oh Yea, My Sister Too.

Last week when I was killing some time at my college, one of my instructors asked me, "How can you say it's 'my' birthday, if it's also her birthday, wouldn't it be 'our' birthday?" he said while pointing to my identical twin sister. It was really a game of semantics.  Oh by the way, it is "our" birthday today.

My mom always told me that she would love to be a twin. She said she would always have someone to talk to.

Well , sometimes that's true, but  it's not all close sisterhood all the time.

There are some times I wish I wasn't a twin. It's not as great as you might think.

When I was in elementary school, I went to a Catholic school from grades 1-5. My mom taught there, so it was not really a big deal. So Catholic school only means one thing: uniforms.When we were kids, my mom never dressed us the same. We already look like twins, we didn't want to dress like them too!

So from the get-go, all the girls had to look the same, with the same ugly plaid jumper.  The other problem with the Catholic school was this: One class per grade. Since Steph and I were the same age, we were in the same class, every single year. That was no easy endeavor. The struggle to be different was being obstructed.

The killer  for me and my sister was this:  This may not seem like a big deal, but when you are established as a "twin", the term automatically implies "two"! Like, "Well if this is one of you, there must be another one!" You look the same!"

 Therefore you must be the same.

Some people in our class would consider us as  the "same person". It used to bug me. A lot.

It was such a big deal, because since Steph and I were in the same class all the time, the teachers would screw up our names all the time. I guess the students would too.

That would drive me crazy. When the kids would mess up my name, they would say something  like, "Oh, it doesn't matter". That was hard to hear, because it's your name. It's your identity, so when someone demeans it in a way that says your name is not important, it's because they think you're not important.

 Several years of  passed. I was however old you are in fifth grade, and was bitching at mean girls, and just didn't care who I pissed off at that point, I was so ready to leave and finally get a new start. Not as a "twin", but as Cassidy.

One of the other things about being a twin is you live in each other's shadow. All the fucking time. It's different than living in an older brother or sister's shadow. When you have an older sibling, you are a compared to them, but eventually show you are not them. 

 In middle school, the problem wasn't as large, because there were so many people. People hardly realized, the girl that kinda looks like you. By this point, my mom made sure we never were in the same class. From that point on, we never were in the same classes, until high school that was.

Some more issues came with acting in theatrical productions and music programs.  Now neither of us was going to "not" do theatre  or sing because the other one did. My middle school shows and choirs were very competitive. However,  there were times, when I felt jipped, or Steph felt jipped because we felt that they looked over us, because one twin was great, but the other was just ok, and they didn't "want us to fight about it or something, " so neither of us got the part or the solo. You're already being compared to everyone else who auditioned, as well as your identical twin.

Our high school was a pretty small school district, not a lot of options for course times. One year, my sister and I had three courses together. We were less than thrilled. Actually very upset about it, but it was the only time the courses were offered. You can escape your older sibling's shadow, by doing something they would never do, and to your friends, they don't know your older sibling. You can't escape the shadow with a twin. You're always the same age, and in the same grade in school! The only was to escape the shadow is to go to different places and fight to be different, because being the same was so expected. But we're not the same person! Different personalities run rampant on us.

Now, enough with the bad things, there are some good things that come with the twin territory.

You can share clothes! I have so many clothes i can go two months without doing laundry because we share all of our clothes. When you're a twin, you learn to share at a very early age. You share just about anything and everything since you are little. We share hair stuff, make-up, and everything in between.  We share shoes too, mostly everything now that I think about it.

The other cool thing is about being a twin, is that you can talk about the same things, because you're at the same point in your lives. My sister and I can talk about almost anything, because we share so much of our experiences at the same time such ascollege, graduation, job searching, boys, girls, our family, and events. Oh yea, and stupid people. Can't forget stupid people.

In college, my sister and I know the same people, because we go to a community college in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. If we didn't have a similar career path, our college experience probably would be very different from each other. Since they are very similar, we have the same teachers. Yet again, all the teachers in our happy fun, awesome broadcasting/journalism department, still compare us.

I've kind of gotten over it,  it's kind of inevitable! How do you not? Two people who grew up in the same household with the same parents, how do they not act exactly the same?   We have the same teachers! I'll tell you how. We're not the same people! Twin does not mean clone! 


I've been dealing with people working to understand the term, "twin" with me my whole entire life. People ask me questions like, "Do you have twin telepathy?" "Do you feel something when something happens to the other one?"  Sometimes, i get mad when people talk about her, but I don't really know if she fell off a cliff.

There seems to be one more term associated with the term "twin" in my opinion:  COMPETITION
Twins compete for attention since the day they are born!  We argue who will get help first, who will get the better clothes, the better phone, the better car, the better deal. All the time.

In my college, I am always meeting new people. My sister and I have some of the same same friends, but we hang around with many of the same people. Steph and I have very different personalities. People who are our friends know that for a fact. Some people like me better, and some people like her better, and some like us both the same, but for different reasons.

 Some people don't even know I have a twin! There are some people who are completely oblivious to the fact that we are twins! Being a twin is a cool thing, not your identity.

Thanks for reading guys. It means a lot! I hope you liked it, I'm really proud of it!   I decided to write this because it's my birthday today! But hey it's also my sister Stephanie's birthday. Feedback is nice! Hope you enjoyed reading, hope to see you next week!

Cassidy