The experiences of being a twin go far beyond the typical sharing a birthday, similar facial features, and constant comparison. Some pairs of twins can even open each other’s phones with facial recognition or accidentally walk out of their rooms in the morning wearing the same outfits.
There are varying opinions on having a twin. Senior identical twins, Lucy and Talia Loes, like the companionship that comes with being a twin whereas freshmen identical twins Luke and Jake Machalek find it annoying at times.
Lucy and Talia are both involved in cross-country, track, English, reading, and creative endeavors which creates some competition, but they still get along well. They get to have double the books and clothes because of similar interests and styles, which makes their bond even closer. “I really like that I always have a built-in best friend, and she understands me on a level that most people don’t,” Lucy Loes said.
Since twins are always connected, it can be difficult to be seen as separate people even with opposing interests. Curiosity from others can be frustrating for twins when they constantly get compared and contrasted to each other or asked the same questions repeatedly. “You’re less seen as your own individual person, but also, in a way, I’m not my own individual person, because I’m always going to be tied to her, and I don’t mind that, per se, but it’s also nice to be your own person,” Lucy said.
Most people have a hard time telling identical twins apart but after a while, friends, teammates, and family members can identify the twins based on their voices, overall vibes, hair, or shoes. It tends to take Talia and Lucy’s teachers a month to know the difference between them, so in the meantime, they try to pretend they know and avoid saying their names.
Freshmen fraternal twins Frank and Sofie Rokala have never had to deal with this issue, mostly because of being opposite genders and having different hair colors. On the other hand, Jake and Luke’s family could only really distinguish them by birthmarks or hair at first. “I couldn’t look at our two baby pictures and tell us apart until I saw the baby pictures when we were like six,” Jake said.
Regular sibling annoyances like arguing or fighting are a normal part of the job for twins. For Jake Machalek, he hasn’t always enjoyed being a twin, especially when others compare or confuse them. “I get especially envious of those who don’t have a twin or even a sibling because I don’t like it when my brother goes to talk to me about stuff [since] we generally have pretty different views and opinions and that causes my parents to sometimes have to pick sides between us. I always find that unfair,” Jake said.
Regardless of the differences between these twins, there’s comfort in always knowing someone else in their grade and going through similar life stages. “You can be alone if you want to be alone, but you don’t have to be and you always have someone who knows you and is on your side all the time,” Talia said.
Most importantly, don’t let the stereotypes and preconceived notions about twins get to your head. “We don’t have twin telepathy!” Luke said.