You have heard the constant talk of countless teenage girls in the world yearning to be a twin. They complain they don’t have a girl best friend close enough to not only understand their school problems but also their more personal family issues.

As a twin I can tell you it’s not all roses and butterflies but at the same time it is the greatest blessing in the world.

My twin is my best friend. Obviously that means I tell her everything but it’s not just that. We are inseparable. We know each other so deeply that we don’t even have to speak to understand what we are thinking. When we are across the room from each other at a party and someone says something we know immediately what the other twin is thinking just by looking at each other.

It sounds cliche to say but we have quite literally been through everything together, every family tragedy, every backstabbing friend, every cheating boyfriend. We have been there for each other every single time ready to beat up whoever hurt the other twin. It sounds like a win win relationship, right? Oh, that is just the surface of our complicated twin ship.

As girl twins, we suffer from twin comparing and twin jealousy. Diseases made up by us, of course.

First is twin comparing, being compared every waking hour of everyday becomes exhausting at some point. When we walk into a room at the same time and are asked if we are twins (which obviously we are, we look the same) and respond with a yes, EVERY SINGLE person in the room looks at us telling us how we look similar and how we look different. Oh, you have a bigger forehead, and oh your nose if more pointy than the other one. They’re telling us like we have never seen our own reflection. Although this sounds minor, after a while it can get quite frustrating and hurtful. And if it’s not others comparing us it’s us doing it to ourselves. Comparing our grades, appearance, friend group. Everything we have that is our own is compared to the other twin.

This constant cycle leads to the next twin disease, which is commonly referred to as twin jealousy.

Have you ever had a class with someone that you are extremely competitive with, but also friends with?  Well having a class with your twin is this relationship on steroids. In English we sat next to each other. My twin would get her paper back first because her name is first alphabetically. Most of the time she would get a 97% and I would get a 96%. It seems stupid to get annoyed when you get that high of a grade, right? Not when your classmates ask you how you did and they constantly make jokes that you’re the stupid sister and your sister is smarter than you. You know they’re just joking, but once again after a billion times of hearing it you really start to believe it.

I’m giving my twin ship a bad wrap huh? Well from 18 years of experience I have to know something about it, right? Not exactly. My twin and I are working everyday to improve our relationship. We are honest with each other about our feelings and work hard to change the negative things we do. I love my twin more than anything and can’t imagine what it would be like to not have a forever best friend. We truly are stuck with each other forever.