Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Just Like Me

What a twin ride it has been, with my brother and I running down the road of life at break neck speed, stopping only rarely to smell the roses. We started life kicking and screaming, and I am sure that is how it will end someday, our bodies bruised and broken, but our spirits high and wild as we run headlong into the next world.

I don’t think anyone can really understand the bond between identical twins. It’s called mirror image twinship; everything is the same, but opposite. It is like looking into a mirror while holding a book. The image and book are identical, but the writing is backward and unreadable. So it is with identical twins. One is doing well in life, while the other is struggling and lost. The one doing well tries to help the down and out twin by mirroring the behavior causing the problem. Once the good twin starts acting badly, the bad twin starts behaving again and climbs back up the ladder of success, while the other struggles to find their way back to whence he or she came.

It is indeed strange behavior, but I am convinced it is caused by the constant struggle to find one’s own identity. It’s not always easy being two people with one identity going in two different directions at the same time. This explains why when we were growing up, one would be on top the world while the other would be buried beneath and always in turmoil. We switched roles back and forth until adulthood, at which time we were able to live separate lives in different locations.

We have really never been apart intuitively or mentally. The connection is much deeper than husband and wife love, parent and child love, family love or any other kind of love. Identical twins are hardwired together and the wire stretches around the world. The wire cannot be cut by anyone, including the twins themselves. Even death cannot break the bond, because the mirror image lives inside both. I suspect the invisible bond lasts for eternity.

Would I change my twin life if I could? Not on your life – the journey has been fantastic and the best is yet to come. Our relationship has matured right alone with us, and I look forward to riding the wave until it fades into the beach and we lay on the hot, white sand, looking up into the heavens, thankful that we are still together as identical twins.

Write on,

Mittster

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