TWIN STORIES

Felix and Orlando (mirrored twins)
We are identical mirror twins.  People can tell us apart due to one of us having a freckle above his eyebrow.  The other one of us is slightly taller and has thicker hair that seems to grow a tiny bit faster.  He was bigger at birth (we had TTTS).  Our voices are distinct.  One of us loves salad, cucumbers, and lighter foods, while the other is all meat and potatoes, and rich foods.  We share an off-beat sense of humor and we both love to read and draw.  But our personalities are different enough to make life together very interesting.  

Carlos and Fernando (fraternal twins)
Carlos and Fernando are turning three this summer and they are amazing boys, inteligent, so similar but different at the same time. They were born premature but have grown to be beautiful and strong healthy boys. This is their mom writing on their behalf. As their mom, they are my second twin pregnancy, unfortunately the first one didn't come to term and I miscarried. Both pregnancies were natural, without reproductive assistance. As their mom, i am very interested in the mystery and science behind twins and multiple pregnancies and I want to share our story with the world. We currently live in Spain and both boys are thriving in Pre-K, soon to be enrolled in school next September. They are being raised in a bilingual and multicultural home.

Amy and Cara (identical)
Amy and I grew up in Denver, Colorado, enjoying hiking and skiing in the mountains and spending time at the family cabin. Amy studied teaching in Nebraska when she was 18, while Cara stayed in Denver to pursue a nursing degree. We haven’t lived in the same location since. Amy moved to Long Beach, CA after graduating and Cara to Boise, ID. We still live in those cities today. We remain best friends, talk on the phone frequently, travel together and visit each other often.   

Taylor and twin sister (identical)
As a college student who studies social sciences, I always found it interesting that my sister and I turned out completely different in terms of our personalities and interests. Considering the way we are as people is because of nature and nurture, from this point of view, I'm curious what other variables were naturally manipulated in our lives that steered us to be more or less different. I now especially see the value of twin studies for research and my sister and I would love to contribute as part of this advancement in society.

Mica and Olivia (identical)
My sister and I are very close friends, and we just turned 31 today. In total, we went to 3 colleges known as U of I. We both attended University of Indianapolis for undergrad (social work), and then Olivia attended University of Illinois, and Mica attend University of Iowa (Master’s of Social Work). We have worked as therapists, mental health professionals, and school counselors, and we love being back in Indianapolis!

Katie and Andrew (fraternal)
My twin (Katie) and I are very close, we have many similarities between one another. It is important to not that as babies, into toddlerhood, we had nicknames for ourselves! I was (andewz), and Katie was (tee-tee). We are definitely closer in some ways, it is clear that we have a connection that my other sibling does not have with us. There is always a feeling of mutual support between my twin and I. Katie and I live at home with our parents and sister, and our dog.

Cassandra and Kya (identical)
Cassandra and Kya are currently 13 years old. They are identical twins (monoamniotic). They were born at 31 weeks, weighing in at 3.5 lbs and 4lbs, and spent their first 2 months in the hospital NICU. They have thrived ever since. By age 3, we knew something was different about them. They were nonverbal, knowing less than 5 words. They had many of the hallmark behaviors for autism, and recieved their ASD diagnosis at age 6. They have had years of therapy since age 3- speech, occupational, behavioral, etc.  Now, they talk up a storm. Unless you know the signs of ASD, one can hardly distinguish them from their peers.  I wouldnt change them one bit, their therapies were mainly for the goal of helping them to navigate this world with the best strategies to reach their potential. They are so imaginative, and their interests always align which is hilarious. They each have their own YouTube channels, where they create their own cartoons and animations. They are so alike, yet different. Cassandra is more outgoing, whilst Kya is a bit more reserved. When they were little, I used to come home from work ( I work 3rd shift), and they would tell me about their dream (singular), and get angry at me because I couldn't remember the dream, because if I was in it, then I should remember it...  They are each others best friend and nemesis. Always vying for who's first, who gets more...bickering all day. But, in truth, they are connected like glue. They are my miracles.

Sarah and Patricia (identical)
All our lives my sister and I were told that we were fraternal twins.  To her dying day out mother swore we were, even when presented with genetic evidence that we were identical she was still not budging.  Finding that we were genetically identical solidified for my sister and I what we always knew.  Growing up with a twin has allowed me to have my best friend always at hand knowing there was someone I always had a connection with.  There are times we just know what the other is thinking and there’s no other feeling like it.  Having different experiences growing up allowed us to change personality wise but the twin connection has always brought us back to our true self.  I couldn’t imagine life without my twin sister Patricia.

Jayden and Jordan (identical)
Jayden and Jordan are Monozygotic twins (Identical Twins) and on 12/18/2019. This single fertilized egg splits to form two embryos that developed into two babies while traveling into the moms womb between day 4-7. This random split is still unexplained by science and because the split happened late, the two embryos were in separate amniotic sacs and shared the same chorion and placenta. Jayden  was born at 12:56 pm and weighed 5.12 lbs and had a height of 18.89 inches.  Jordan  was born at 12:58 pm and weighed 6.1 lbs and had a height of 18.89 inches. They were born at 35 weeks 5 days gestation at the Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York State on August 6th 2020. They both have an A (+) Positive. Almost 10 months later, they both weigh about 26 lbs.

Nikki and twin sister (identical)
We are 65, we live together. I’ve always been the leader. She has always depended on me. She is very backward. I get mad at her often because she never wants to do anything without my help. She told the teachers in grammar school that she did not need to learn anything because I knew everything. If she has to make an important phone call or handle some kind of business, she refuses to do it herself. She begs me to do these things for her. I do finally give in. We are bad to fuss at each other. We never ever agree on anything. But we can never stay mad at each other. She could not have children, so my kids have always made sure that she was not left out on Mother’s Day. She is their second mom.  She is healthy and I am not.

Quinn and twin brother (identical)
My twin brother and I have been incredibly close our entire lives. Same friend groups, same sports, same clothes, same everything. We even studied the same major in college (Mechanical Engineering) at the same college, joined the same Fraternity, and lived together at school. After graduating college we both got jobs in the same city, and we currently live together doing similar work. Our whole lives, we always had oddly coincidental things happen to us from a timing standpoint. Aside from the frequent "Jinx" moments where we say or think the same thing at the same time, we also lost teeth at the same rate growing up (the exact same teeth, within days/hours of eachother), hit growth spurts at the same time, and even got our first hole-in-one in golf within 1 round of eachother!
Interestingly enough, until about a month ago, we thought we were fraternal twins our entire lives. I guess the medical science wasn't great in the mid-90's when we were born, and they told my parents we were fraternal (and we obviously believed the doctor). Even though we looked incredibly similar growing up, we always figured it was just due to the fact that everyone in our family had similar characteristics and we all kind of looked the same. We of course got exclamations of disbelief when we told people we were fraternal, but we just told them it's what the doctor said. I can't even tell us apart in pictures from anything before age 10 or so.
About 2 months ago my brother and I decided to take a 23&Me test to confirm. After waiting about a month for the results, it was confirmed that we have 100% identical DNA. Even though nothing changed in our day-to-day lives, it altered my perception of our relationship in a profound way. Before we were just close brothers that were born at the same time - now we were genetically identical! This finding prompted us to decide to sign up for the Stanford Twin Registry. I'm hopeful that we can help advance human/genetic research in any way possible.

Sandra and Marsha (identical)
Marsha and I are identical twins and have been best friends all our life.  We sound alike and think alike and tend to finish each others sentences. I live in the Bay area and she is in the Sacramento area.  We rarely  go more than a month without being together.  An interesting anecdote... I have been involved with genealogy for a few years and have done my DNA. I got notification that there was a new parent-child relationship.  Marsha's daughter had it done and that was the connection.  We realized that her two daughters and my two daughters are genetically half sisters!

Teresa and twin brother
I would like to tell you a story about a twin named Teresa who, at the age of almost 58, discovered the reason for her painful and difficult life: while watching the show “An Oriental Odissey,” around Episode 50 when the twins disappear, she remembered her twin brother who had died so long ago, two months after their births. She had been too young to mourn him and her family did not help, they never talked about the loss of her twin brother. So instead she carried that pain throughout her life causing her all sorts of ills mental and physical. Now, finally after all these years she understood why she had been so sick and unhappy: she had been missing the twin brother she never met. She cried and cried and did a farewell ceremony for her twin brother burning cinnamon, cardamom and ginger, sending him lots of love and good wishes.  For the first time in years Teresa was at peace.

Kayla and Krista (identical, mirrored)
My twin sister and I are what you’d call rare I guess. We are mirrored twins, I’m right handed she’s left handed. We even have a freckle under the opposite eye of the other. We turned 17 in March and we have always been super close!! Her name is Krista and she is older by ten minutes and never fails to remind me. Our Teacher would always tell us apart by what hand we were writing with. We don’t look much alike anymore because we both have different hair styles but we still get asked all the fun questions. Who’s taller? Who’s older? Who’s in charge? Do you get along? I enjoy being a twin.

Madeline and Katrina (identical)
I think to this day one of the craziest stories or as my mom would call them "freaky twin moments" has to be how my sister and I picked where we would go to college.

It was 2010, our senior year of high school. We had made a pact that I would only discuss where I wanted to go to college with my mom and she would only discuss where she wanted to go with my dad. We didn't want to be "those twins" who were so inseparable that they couldn't even pick a college without consulting the other. We toured a couple colleges together and were deliberating between 6. The two contenders for me were The University of Butler and DePauw University. I picked Butler.

My sister had apparently already made her decision. And I thought at least if I made a decision I could finally hear hers. But then a few hours later I had this sinking feeling that I had made the wrong choice.  

 "Mom, I don't know why but I can't go to Butler. I just know I've made the wrong decision. Omg mom please tell me I can change to DePauw??". She immediately text me back, "Yes honey. I can change it I was just about to send in the ones to Butler, but if that is what you've decided then I can do that."  Then she asked if I was with my sister, I wasn’t. "Are you sure? She literally just text me word for word what you did. She told your dad this morning that she wanted to go to Butler and we thought that was weird enough but now you two decide to change to DePauw at almost identical times. I'm guessing you have been talking and you're trying to pull a fast one on us. Your dad and I just want you two to individually be happy with your decisions."  It turned out DePauw was the right call for both of us. We had the time of our lives and made so many friends we keep in touch with to this day. It just goes to show you the undeniable connections identical twins have even when they are going to great lengths to avoid it!

Jessica and Rebecca (identical)
I have an identical twin sister named Rebecca. We will be 37 years old at the end of the month. We were born and raised in Clay county Florida. We have a very close relationship and are willing and excited to participate in any studies on identical twins.

Rick and Bob (identical)
We're turning 60 this month.  We probably spent the first 40 years competing with each other, and the last 20 being friends.  Being twins gives you a strong sense of family obligation.  We have always helped each other out and always will. Being identical twins at the same college, UC Davis, where bikes are the primary form of transportation, meant meeting twice as many people.  When biking to class you couldn't stop pedaling to explain that although you are saying "hi to Bob," he actually has a twin brother named Rick and that's me.  Instead you just replied, "Howdy," and kept riding.

Katherine and twin sister (identical)
Identical twin premies here. We grew up together, I personally thought she was my sister only to be my competitor until about mid-high school. I finally accepted her, myself, and our twin-ness and we have been twinning ever since. We are very different on the surface but similar at our core. She is my rock. She is my sister and best friend. We may never live close to one another but nearly daily facetimes help take care of that. We are both driven - myself athletically and in my career and my sister in singing and being a mother. We eat Mac n cheese on the same days without knowing it while watching the same movie. We’ll also randomly call our family at the same time unknowingly... it’s a twin thing :)

Gregg and twin brother (identical)
As children our parents enrolled us in separate classes.  We had separate circles of friends. As adults we grew closer and closer. Then started traveling together to connect.  Although we live 1200 miles apart, we see each other several times per year and text daily. One twin still colored his hair until recently, had a little cosmetic 'touch up' surgery, and always shaved.  He was the computer geek.  The other preferred the 'rougher' look. Now age 70, we are still the best of friends.

Teresa and twin sister (identical)
My sister & I were born in 1954 before parents knew they were having twins.  My parents were told the baby had a possible heart murmur but it was actually the sound of two heart beats.  She had me first and they started to wheel her out of the delivery room when she told them she thought she was having another baby.  The nurse told her that was just a normal feeling but she checked and saw my sister coming out breach !  So back into the delivery room my mother went while the nurse tried to turn my sister around, but it was too late and she came out butt first.  I tell her to this day that she has always been ass backwards !  Considering we were 8 weeks premature we weighed over five pounds each which was big for twins.  We are also mirror twins. 

Jane and Judy (fraternal)
My Twin and I can sense something isn't right with one another even when we are apart and we can tell what the other is thinking. We both have kids,  she has two and I have five.  We had identical  twin brothers who passed away. Twins are in our family: my mom had two sets of twins and her sister had one. My twin Judy and I look nothing alike I have blond hair and hers is dark brown. People cannot believe we are even related.  

Barbara and twin brother
My brother and I are fraternal twins. We are older senior citizens now  and have always said "our birthday" and always will. We have special names for each other that no one else knows.  We were in the same classes in grammar school; when they tried to separate us, we didn't do well so they stopped trying. We had the best childhood , grew up in San Francisco  and shared the same friends. He was a surfer and I tagged along and dated the boys.  As adults we drifted apart due to different lifestyles but we are still very close in a way I can't describe and although we don't see each other very often we are in touch and I have a 6th sense about what is going on in his life even though we are miles apart.  My brother loves it when he tells people he has a twin sister and they ask if we are identical. He gets a kick out of that. He's a funny guy and I always adored him and I always will. We have loved being twins.

Kellen and Silas (identical)
Hello, my name is Kellen Cooper, and pictures with me is my identical twin Silas Cooper. We both stand at 5’8, are 18, and weigh 148 pounds. We have grown up together and shared a room through the age of 13. We both love to lift weights, spend time on Xbox, and play sports together. We will be attending the same college, the University of Louisville located in Kentucky , although we both live in Williamsburg, VA.

Kelli and Cynthia (identical, mirrored)
Cynthia and I's twin story probably starts out like many born in the 60's and before. No one knew I was coming!! We were before ultrasounds, so mom was getting pretty big, but they just thought she might be having a big boy. On the morning of her baby shower, her water broke. After some waiting with nothing happening, they took an xray, figured out there was two of us, they induced and she had us in an hour!,We are mirror twins - teeth crooked opposite, left handed vs right handed, etc. We have always been close and we still fight like cats and dogs, even though we turn 55 in a couple of weeks! We tend to medically experience the same things, albeit at different times.
My sister and I are eleven hours apart. We were born premature babies at around the seven-and-a-half-month mark. I could have stayed another month due to my being perfectly comfortable in my own amniotic sac but my mother saw no reason not to deliver me at the same time. The doctors had to induce her labor again and we ended up with different birthdays!

Kelly (Identical twin)
My sister and I are identical twins. We are more connected with each other than we are with our older sister. Numerous times we have picked the exact same nail color having not seen or talked to each other. We will show up with the same clothes at gatherings or we will run into each other at the same restaurant craving the same food! We recently were diagnosed with COVID-19 a week apart with similar symptoms even though we hadn’t had any contact with each other. We ended having to go to the hospital and were both released after six days.

Christy (Identical twin)
My name is Christy and I am an identical twin. My twin’s name is Carrie; we grew up together and went our separate ways when we went to college. We were both excellent basketball players and made a career out of it.  We both travelled the world with our professional teams. I played in Sweden for seventeen seasons and ended up living there. My sister’s career was interrupted ten years ago because of injuries, now she lives in Colorado Springs. At age 16 she started to experience various health problems that have continued to this day while I have been perfectly healthy. It is hard to comprehend.

Thomas (Fraternal twin)
My sister and I both live in the San Francisco Bay Area and grew up participating in the University of Colorado Boulder twin studies conducted by their Institute for Behavioral Genetics. While we haven't participated in any studies focused on Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection we certainly appreciate the work being done. I am blessed to have been married for ten years to my wife, who is also a fraternal twin. I believe our life experience as twins has enabled us to have a stronger relationship.

Sharon and Shahar (Fraternal twins in Tel-Aviv)
Their father is from Israel and their mother is from the Philippines. The twins were born during the pandemic on September 30, 2020. The first born, a baby girl, named Sharon is very different from her twin brother Shahar. Sharon sleeps through the night while Shahar is up every two hours. They both like music and movement. Sharon takes after her father and Shahar after his mother.

Kevin (Identical twin)
I'm Kevin's mom and mother of two sets of twins, one fraternal and one identical. Kevin is part of my identical set and he had to have a lobe of his lung removed after birth that his twin did not have. His hair is also longer and darker than his brother's. He also makes sounds like clicking and babbles more.

Anne (Identical twin)
When they were 2 years old, my twins “A” and “R” wanted to be called by the same name. R would say “I’m not R! I’m A.” A would also want to be called A. Other friends with twins have noticed the same thing, and they seem to grow out of it fairly quickly, by 3-4 years old.  Not sure if there is something psychological at work, potentially with them not seeing themselves as different people.

David (Identical twin)
My name is David. While I have many stories, I could tell about myself and my brother, my intention is to inform you of a unique situation: I am the eldest twin, I am nearly 70 years old. I have identical twin sons who are in their 40s. My eldest twin son had identical twin sons who are currently 6 years old. My father was not a twin but had identical twin brothers. This means we have FOUR generations of male twins passed through the male line. My understanding is this is nearly impossible. Just thought you might be interested.

Shelly (Identical twin)
I have an identical twin named Kelly. I am married with two children: a daughter 19 and a son 21. I am in pretty good health. In October 2020, I caught the Covid-19 virus and ran a high fever of 101-104 for nine days, I ended having to go to the ER. I was diagnosed with Covid related pneumonia and was given Remdesivir. Meanwhile my twin started having the same symptoms (we had not seen each other in over a month) and had to be admitted to the hospital also.  We had the exact same diagnosis and treatment.  However now I am doing fine and she is still having breathing problems.  I was greatly impressed with Stanford and if I can help with research I would like to.

Derek (Identical twin)
When my brother and I were kids we had twin imaginary friends. Now, as mid-40somethings, we continue to have an unusual bond and are super similar, for instance having told the same story to the same person at almost the exact time without knowing that the other had already told this story!

Derick (Identical twin)
My brother and I have always been more connected then my other six siblings. As kids we were always together until about the age of seven. At that point we were tired of always being lumped in together as twins so often are, and so we decided to try to lead our lives as separate individuals. After highschool we went to different colleges and graduated with the same degree.  We are now living in different states but stay connected and remain close, more so than when we lived in the same house!

Grace and Naomi (Identical twins)
We were born 24 minutes apart; I was on top of Naomi in the womb. She was 6lb 15oz and I was 7lb 2oz. We had one sister who was 14m old at the time. She and our parents adored us. Naomi was named after our great grandma while I was named after some elderly women my parents briefly met at the mall (!).  As a result of her position in the womb Naomi was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The doctors told my parents that they didn’t expect her to ever be able to walk on her own and would need significant assistance with anything involving fine motor skills. Growing up I was very active and didn’t play much with Naomi. I did however feel a connection with her probably because we are identical. I just knew how she was feeling like what made her happy, and what made her upset.  Naomi still lives with my family and we talk often. She doesn’t work nor drive. I am applying to medical schools and was a Division One track athlete. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if she didn’t have cerebral palsy; I’ll never know. But I’m so thankful for her beautiful enduring spirit. She inspires me to challenge myself.

Najier (Identical twin)
My name is Najier, my twin sister is Najah. We are in our 20s and live in New York. We both have Asthma, tonsillectomies, and hernia repairs. I got infected with the COVID-19 virus but my sister did not even though we live together. We do everything together: we bought our first home together, attend the same university and picked the same major. We even have the same job. We truly don’t know life without each other

Tina (Identical twin)
Our parents encouraged me and my sister to be independent. I decided to move to another part of the country and my sister attended college closer to home. After graduation we both moved to the same town. We both worked for several years, married men in the same profession, had children about the same time, and eventually started a business together.  It amazes me that we worked hard to be independent and eventually found out that we have a unique bond that keeps us together.

Virginia (Identical twin)
My twin and I are monochorionic monoamniotic monozygotic twins.  The doctor who delivered us told my mom we were in the same sac.   We are the same in many ways but also complete opposites.  I am right handed and analytical and studied engineering and medicine. My twin is left handed and an architect. Twins have a unique relationship that singletons will never understand. It can be hard to develop a unique identity separate from your twin. My half- brother (we share the same father) had identical twin girls.  It’s not supposed to be hereditary but it’s very strange - 2 sets of identical twins in the same immediate family.

Erin (Fraternal twin)
My brother and I are born larger than the average size twins. I was born with pyloric stenosis and kept losing weight. I was lethargic compared to my rambunctious brother but once I had the surgery I was able to develop and reach a normal weight.  In kindergarten my brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Years later we have both been diagnosed with hypothyroidism.

Dennis (Fraternal twin)Just before I turned forty, I snapped my Achilles’ tendon in my right leg playing volleyball at a company picnic in Eugene, Oregon, where I lived at the time. Three weeks later, my twin brother, who lived in Palo Alto, tore the Achilles’ tendon in his right leg while running up a set of stairs.

Charlotte (Identical twin)
My identical twin and I lost many of our teeth within a week of each other. If she lost her front right tooth, I could be sure that my front right tooth was going to fall out very soon. It was a very strange but fun way to lose teeth!

Darius (Fraternal twin)
My brother and I are fraternal but we look identical.  We had a strange exchange of energy one time. We played high school football and it was my senior year on an away game in the Bay Area. At one point in the game there was a punt and I was the return man. I caught the ball and I ran a few steps when the defender dove into my right knee; I actually felt the ligaments and cartilage tearing inside. My twin brother rushed to help me and we proceeded to faint at the same time.  We both knew at that moment that if one of us was in pain the other would feel it.

Ping (Identical twin)
My brother's name rhymes with mine. Growing up as competitive swimmers, we were pretty used to the swim parents not knowing who was who. Whenever one of us was up on the blocks about to race, the parents would just yell both of our names...to cover all their bases!

Bailey (Identical twin)
My twin and I are identical mirror twins. This is extremely rare in identical twins and it happens when the egg splits late—almost before conjoined twins. So even though we look exactly alike on the outside, we are opposite on the inside. For example, I’m left handed and she is right handed and in extremely rare cases the organs can be flipped, it is called situs inversus.

Matt (Identical twin)
My twin and I both have Multiple Sclerosis.  Here is a link for a funny story where we switched places.

Geoffrey (Identical twin)
My identical twin brother and I have lived most of our lives past our early teens apart from one another, but we have shared a bunch of things on our respective paths, which have come much closer together as we have entered our late 30s. My twin entered the military while I was engaging in activist work that was pretty contrary to everything he was doing. As the years have gone by, we have both veered more toward the middle politically and have both taken on careers in medicine. We both became emergency department nurses, though I have now moved on to flight nursing - of course, he is working on getting his flight certification as well!

Janet (Identical twin)
So here we are in our 60s. My twin lives in Philadelphia and I am in DC. I recently called her to tell her that I have a mild case of shingles. It turns out SHE has shingles too! (also a mild case). We had chickenpox at the same time when we were six. And now 50+ years later we are both with shingles just a few days apart - synchronous shingles.  Freaky, right?

Emma (Identical twin)
So as twins, my sister and I noticed that a lot of twins are practically assigned a color at birth. I was the blue twin and she was the purple twin. My sister and I also noticed something we could relate to on a show we both watch called Haikyu. In the show, there is a pair of identical twins who get into a fight and do not speak to each other because they are mad. Then they make up by just saying something like "hey want to play a game?" instead of actually apologizing. Both my sister and I agreed that it was one of the more accurate representations of identical twins that we had seen in a long time.

Bart (Identical twin)
My brother Bruce and I always visit each other at least we used to until the Covid-19 pandemic. During these visits we enjoyed tricking people:  I would go into his favorite coffee shop pretending to be him   just to see people’s reaction when they found out I wasn’t Bruce!

Harmonie (Identical twin)
Being Twins is Our Identity - Our “Identwinty”. My twin Melodie and I are inseparable. We are much closer than normal siblings, and we actually describe ourselves as being of one mind. I would describe it in quantum physics terms: we were actually ONE being at one time! We live close by and see each other several times a week. We even married a pair of best friends who are very supportive of our twin connection.  We have always looked identical but as we age we look less and less alike due to our different lifestyles.  WHAT IF WE AREN'T ACTUALLY IDENTICAL?  But our parents reassured us and reminded us of our TTTS and subsequent premature birth.

Rachell (Identical twin)
My twin and I are mirrored identical twins.  While I have travelled everywhere with the Air Force, my sister has only been out of California three times to neighboring states. We both have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. My twin has a different type than me. Her skin is very soft and very stretchy. My skin is not. We are both hypermobile. We would love to help research any way we can.

Lloyd (Identical twin)
Here is a great twin story:  a while ago I was in a car with my brother Larry.  As we were chatting I mentioned that the railway companies have boring names nowadays but that during our parents’ time the names were much more romantic, like the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, etc. In fact, our grandfather had worked for the Great Northern.  In telling this to Larry I could picture the rocky mountain goat which was the railway logo. A big smile came onto Larry’s face and he started tugging at the shirt he was wearing. Guess what was on the shirt? The railway goat logo!

V. (Fraternal twin)
The aspect of my relationship with my sister that could be interesting for your studies is our suspicion that I am on the autism spectrum while she isn’t. We just turned 46; I was never diagnosed because my observational skills enabled me to mask many of my symptoms (which were apparent from the time I was a baby, but the pediatrician told my mom not to worry as long as I reached the milestones). Furthermore, some symptoms, such as my hyperlexia, were chalked up to giftedness when they really had more to do with my freakishly good memory back then. Anyway, I’m sometimes in the Bay Area for work if you are interested in our contributing to your studies.

Valerie (Identical twin)
My twin is someone I talk to daily. We hold each other accountable (to be our best selves) and are much happier people when we are together.  We live close to each other. Our last (married) names are only one letter different, we find this awesome. We go through some of the same emotions daily. If one of us is feeling a certain way, the other can relate to that.  When I became pregnant, she became pregnant two weeks later and she had been trying for several years! We are completely content when together and have a sense of being complete. She is my other half in this life and I call her my wombmate.

Lillian (Identical twin)
My identical twin sister and I attended the same university and chose to study the same major. As adults, we have been in sync with each other for all major life milestones. We became engaged to our respective spouses three months apart, and were married the same summer. Our first children, both boys, were born 13 days apart. We then each had two more kids - different genders both times, but the next cousin pair were born 15 days apart and the third set were born five months apart. We are now both pregnant with our fourth child, and are due on the same day!

Mona (Identical twin)
We both live in the Bay Area and it is not uncommon for us to go shopping separately and end up buying the same things.  It can be quite annoying when you buy the same swimsuit and it cannot be returned.  If we go to a joint event we have to call each other beforehand to make sure we are not wearing the same thing!

Betsy (Identical twin)
We were named after our grandmother’s.  We also live under a mile apart and love it. We are close to 40 years old and people still gets us mixed up.

Victoria (Identical twin)
My sister and I were born 30 seconds apart at Kaiser hospital in San Francisco. We are both left handed, have terrible vision and are the only known twins in our family. We grew up so close that we had our own 'twin language' as infants. We shared a room until 8th grade. We both played softball in high school and were very involved in Sea Cadets together. I went away to college by myself and experienced a feeling of loss for a long time that I attributed to being away from my twin although we had grown apart in high school (mostly due to spending time with boys 😆). We worked together during summer breaks at the same retail store. She stayed at home for a couple of years then moved to Prince George, BC, Canada to live with her husband. After she moved and I graduated from college we grew pretty close again, visiting each other every year and talking on the phone or video chatting very often. We would visit a lot more if finances and obligations allowed. My twin’s daughter and I share the same name, I am very involved in her life even though we are far away from each other. I love my sister so very much, and how unique it is to have someone so much like me in the world.

Sydney (Identical twin)
My twin sister and I have a bond that I wish everyone could experience. We were the result of a teen pregnancy and were raised by our grandparents until we celebrated our 11^th birthday. Then we went to live with our mom and step-dad as part of a military family. We moved a lot and I struggled to find where “home” is until I realized that I feel “at home” whenever I am with my twin. We now live in separate states but I feel 100% comfortable and at home when I am with my sister. We could be anywhere in the world and I would still feel the same. We just understand each other and can just look at each other and know what each other is thinking or feeling!

Brenda (Identical twin)
My twin and I are the youngest of five children.  Our oldest siblings are fraternal twin boys, followed by a sister.  Being born in the mid-70s, in a rural community, we were automatically identified as fraternal at birth.  With very similar characteristics, we heard opinions about this our entire lives.  On our 40th birthday, my twin sister surprised me with a DNA kit that would identify whether we were, in fact, identical or fraternal.  Once the test results were returned, several weeks later, we opened them and read them aloud with our families present.  With great anticipation and elation, we were notified that we were, indeed, identical.  This was one of the most amazing and memorable moments of my life.

Jane (Fraternal twin)
I have three daughters and two sons; my twin had two sons. When our kids were very young I told my sister that I had a premonition that my second oldest daughter would die at the age of 34, it felt scary and very real. My prediction did not happen to me but one of my twin’s sons died at the age of 34.

Janet (Identical twin)
My twin Joan got married at 21 years old and I got married at 50 years old. We are both married to men named Larry. My sister’s husband is a fraternal twin. We are all very close. I lived abroad for 15 years and have lived near my twin for the last 29 years. She has 4 grown children and I am very close to them.

Anne (Identical twin)
Being an identical twin, I’ve been in many uncomfortable situations where random people will point at me, or pinch me and look at my twin to see if she felt it. The worst time was in 7th grade biology when my teacher decided to explain how identical twins were made while using my mother’s ovaries as an example, I was mortified! My twin and I are in our 20s now. We went to the same college and took a lot of the same classes. Sometimes we have very similar dreams. We can say very little to each other and know what the other is talking about. One time, my twin and I were with one of our best friends, and I looked at my sister and said “you know?” and she said “yeah”. Our friend started yelling, “No, No! That is not a conversation! How am I supposed to know what you two are talking about!”

Larry (Identical twin)
My twin and I often have similar things happening to us. He lives in Washington State, 350 miles away. Last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to grow a beard and not shave until our birthday. Unbeknown to me my twin had started growing his beard the same week. We actually shaved our beards together on our 80^th birthday! In the olden days when songs used to have melodies, I would start humming a song in my head and then hear my twin humming the same song. Just recently I learned that my twin brother also stands when putting his socks on starting with the left one and then the right one just like I do!

Martha (Identical twin)
My twin and I were named after Mary and Martha in the Bible. We are in our 80s and live one mile apart. Mary has been a widow almost ten years and I have been married to my wonderful husband, Norm for 65 years. We did everything together [marriage, kids, water-skiing, etc.] and this is the first time in our lives that we have been in different place in our lives. She has three sons and we have two daughters. Our five kids are like brothers and sisters. We have lots of grandkids and great-grandkids. We definitely have a very special relationship that only another set of female identical twins can understand. Being an identical twin has been a real blessing in my life and I can't imagine life without her.

Erin (Identical twin)
My Twin, Cori, and I are 10 minutes apart and I was a hidden twin.  Our mom did not know she was having twins until after my twin was born, so she did not have two names picked out.  I was named after an actress, Erin Grey, my dad saw on TV while in the waiting room at the hospital!  In high school there were eight sets of twins (fraternal and identical) just in our graduating class. We always joked it was the water. Our psychology teacher had a field day with all of us. One time we were in church listening to a speaker and having an entire conversation without saying a word.  Our friend was so freaked out he hit us and told us to stop because we were scaring him.  Cori and I live together as we are both unmarried. We are very big into animal rescue.

Melodie (Identical twin)
My twin and I most often have the exact same reactions to things. This happens when we are together and apart. For example, we saw a spare Jeep tire cover that had the letter J and then a dog face and then the letter P. At the same time, we said “j-dog-p.” I just LOVE having an identical twin!

Hilary (Identical twin)
My twin sister and I are six minutes apart, which is something only twins know. I was born first and liked to think that I am the dominant twin, until my dominant sister disputed it. We were both egg donors and are DNA parent to two sets of twins. Interestingly those links came full circle when report of genetic CMT condition was revealed in both my niece and one of these genetic offsprings. We have curly hair, blue eyes, of Jewish descent, with strong noses and high cheek bones. I am the night life sister and she is the day time. I am single, she's married. I am self-employed, she's a teacher. I do say, our story helps to strengthen the concept of Nature vs. Nurture. We love each other deeply, and would stop a speeding train to protect each other.  TWINS UNITE!!! As if we had a choice!