Twins

There is a question that I am asked more than any other question. Even more than the how-do-you-socialize-if-you’re-a-homeschooler question—and that is saying a lot! Yes, this question has been posed to me so many times, I have taken to answering it as short as possible: “I don’t know anything different.” As you have probably guessed, the question is, “what is it like being an identical twin?” Therefore, in the spirit of clearing up misnomers, curiosities, and myths, I am writing a post on twins (Although I’d still like to ask all of you singletons out there, “what’s it like being a singleton?” because, obviously, I have no idea).
Lauren and I are identical twins, which means we have almost the exact same DNA (mutations and epigenetic modification—switching genes on and off—keep our DNA from being 100% alike). Identical twins are not genetic, and they occur at the exact same rate in all cultures: 1 in 333 births result in identical twins. There are, of course, things about us that are not identical. For example, our fingerprints are different (due to epigenetic modification and environmental influences); our personalities are different; and I am one inch taller than she is.
For us, being twins means that we live with our best friend. We fight less than a handful of times per year, and we always quickly make up when there is a disagreement between us. For the most part, we are a solid team that understands the other person’s expressions and thoughts. Even though we are so close, though, we are not insecure without the other person, because we are not a “safety net” for each other. People often ask us if we can read each other’s minds; there was even an instance where our aunt sat us down and made one think of the number and the other one guess what the number was (it didn’t work)! Although we can’t read each other’s minds, we have had some odd experiences:

1. One time, as I was chatting with Mom in her bathroom, I casually complained that my elbow hurt for no apparent reason. A few minutes later, Mom called me back into the room. “Tell Mikaela what you just told me!” she demanded from Lauren. “Umm…my elbow hurts?” Lauren replied, sheepishly. How weird!
2. Not long ago, Lauren and I both dreamed on the same night that we each got married.
3. When asked what my name was on one occasion, I actually said “Lauren” before red-facedly blurting out the correction.

We are in good company as twins. Did you know that Elvis Presley, Ed Sullivan, and Liberace all had twins who died as infants? There’s other famous twins too, of course: Mary-Kate and Ashley, Jacob and Esau, Angela and Maria Eagle (British members of Parliament), Vin Diesel and his non-famous twin Paul Vincent, Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, Barbara and Jenna Bush, and many, many others!
To top off this very egocentric post, I’m going to post a picture of Lauren and I, along with a poll on the sidebar. I want you to guess who is who (this should be easy, so the pressure is on); however, don't look at the results before you vote--come on, that's just not fair! ;-) Just so you know: we are never bothered by people who can’t tell us apart. The most irritating thing is the people who can’t separate us; that is, they somehow never figured out that we are two separate people whose names are not “laurennnmikaela” or “the twins.” ;-)