Many have read about the tests that are performed on sets of twins to pinpoint a certain ‘connection’ that they seem to have, or the credibility thereof. Perhaps you are intrigued by the fuss that surrounds these closely-linked individuals, or maybe you fall under the skeptical category. But the question always lurks: could there actually be something to it all?
Studies seem to suggest that there is. I do not presume to subscribe to the idea with unbridled accord, but what I do know is what I have experienced with my own sister. She and I seem to tune into the same frequency and end up on the same coincidental page time after time after time. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t uncanny.
There are entirely too many incidents to record, but some examples worth mentioning. Aside from the obvious things, like finishing each other’s sentences and saying exactly the same thing at the same time, with the same tone (it’s crazy how often we end up in the ‘jynx’ boat – but often, one of us will not even realize the other spoke likewise until informed because it was identical in sound and volume and was a direct overlay, like one voice, not even a slight echo) – aside from these common flukes, there are other things.
I remember wondering once over the intriguing origin of a last name that belonged to a family we knew. Motsomoto. As I walked down the hallway mulling over this name, I passed my sister going the other way. And as she passed me, she blurted the name, a random utterance with no cause or purpose: “Motsomoto!”. I faltered and looked over my shoulder as she continued on her way. Then I called her out. “Why did you say that?”. The answer was pretty straight-forward: “Uh, I don’t know? No reason.” The same thing happened another time, in separate rooms. My sister thought to herself: “Cheeese.” And then, from the other room, came my wistful sigh: “Cheeese…”
How often do we break into song at the same time, only to realize it’s not only the same song, but that we both started in the middle of it, at a random interval? Or look at each other with accusatory bemusement because it was an aimless tune, made up on the spot, and we both emitted it and carried it out at the same time?
Once, in a Multimedia class we took together, the instructor directed us to find a picture of a sunset on the internet for use in our project that day. So there the whole class was, scrolling through the pages and pages of stellar sunset images, all of them beautiful, impossible to choose from. Well, I finally settled on one and began incorporating it into my project, only to glance at my sister’s screen a bit later to discover she had chosen the same image. When I brought this to her attention, she did the same double take that I had, and we both gave each other that impish frown of ironic accusation.
This happened to be the same day that we unknowingly both chose the same sweater to wear, identical except for color, that we had been given as gifts from our parents. She left the house before I was even awake, and only later as I met her at class did we realize we had both stolen the other one’s thunder for the day. Neither of us had worn those sweaters for a long time.
These are just a couple examples of what we go through on a daily basis. I can’t count the times she has inadvertently stolen my ideas, or vice-versa – or the times people in our company glance at one another in silence after we both pipe up and say the same thing as a unit, and then just laugh it off and tease us about it. And we’re not even twins.
Though people do mistake us for twins all the time.
We are actually three years apart. So the saying is: we are twins, three years apart. She’s my younger twin.
Who’s to say if there is really something to all this or not. It could simply be the result of how we were raised, merely conditioned to think alike, or our genes, or how much time we spend together – but it is uncanny.
And if there is something to it, it seems to me it is not at all limited to twins.
