The "Down-Low" on being a twin

For those of you who don't know this, I am a twin. I have an identical twin sister.

Here is lesson #1:
"Identical" refers to the fact that we come from the same egg, not that we look alike. Looking alike is a result of coming from the same egg. Because we come from the same egg, we have the same DNA. Interesting, eh? The SAME DNA. Meaning, the SAME fingerprints! Actually, the prints on our left hands would be the same, while the prints on our right hands fail at the third finger. You see, I was bitten by a dog and have an inch-long scar running down the length of the third finger on my right hand marring my otherwise perfectly matched fingerprint. Having identical twins is not genetic. It just happens – freak of nature so to speak.

The word "fraternal" refers to twins that come from two different eggs. Fraternal twins are often a boy and a girl, but not always. Also, fraternal twins do not share identical DNA, so they don't necessarily look alike. In fact, sometimes they are complete opposites of one another; one has dark hair, the other light, one is tall, the other is short, etc. However, sometimes they can look a lot alike – enough so that testing must be done to determine if they are identical or fraternal. Having fraternal twins is genetic. A woman's body may be genetically prone to realease two eggs at a time instead of just one.

A commom misconception about twins is that the first one is older. Twins are actually the EXACT same age because they were conceived at the EXACT same time.

I love being a twin. She (we'll refer to her as "Stephie" from now on) Stephie is my best friend and is the person I choose to spend my time with if given a choice. She's the first person I call when I need to talk, and she's usually the last person I talk to on any given day. Sometimes, we'll get on the phone and just talk about nothing and suddenly realize that 2 hours has passed. I can't do that with anyone else. In fact, I'm not a phone talker, and by the time I've been on it for 10 minutes, I'm ready to get off. It's different with her, though. Most things are. We moved around a lot growing up, but it never bothered us because we always had a friend in each new place. It was much harder on our brothers. We had our own language when we were very young, and I still remember a couple of words. It's interesting because the words that I can remember don't necessarily translate as one word in English; the translation is more of a description of a state or of a quality. Confusing, I know, but it makes perfect sense to Stephie and me.

DUMB questions we've been asked. And yes, people actually expect answers to these:

1. Do you ever get yourselves mixed up?
2. Are you the same age?
3. Can your parents tell you apart?
4. Why aren't you dressed alike?
5. Do you ever switch places?
6. How do you know which one you are?
7. Which one is smarter?
8. Were you born on the same day?

To question #7, I'd like to respond "Both of us are smarter than you!" HA! HA! HA!

Have a good day, all. I'm going to call Stephie.