Any identical twins here or anyone who has had any experience around any?

[NNN0LHI]

My late father was an identical twin. And when I say identical I really mean identical. Probably took until I was 10 or so until I was able to tell one from the other from across a room. Seriously.

They we inseparable. The both worked the same two full time jobs together(post office and General Electric), so they were able to spend the maximum amount of time together. And on their days off they were together at the race track. They weren't big gamblers. They just wanted to hang around with each other as much as possible.

My uncle, my dads twin, died about ten years before my dad but in fact my dad died the same day. He was never the same again. Not even close. He confided in me afterward that it would have been easier on him if my mother had died. He didn't say it but I bet he felt the same about my brother and I. Bet it would have been easier on him to lose one or both of us. That is how close they were.

I look back now and I can't remember him ever having a good time after his brother died. He couldn't go to the wake or funeral and never visited his brothers grave either. It would have been too traumatic on him to do so.

Anyone else seen or lived through something like this with identical twins?

Don

[blueknight]

1. i have

identical twin daughters that are soon to be 21. and they are still identical. i mean VERY MUCH IDENTICAL. in every way. one went to study abroad, and the other cried like a baby. it was the first time they had been apart for more then two days since they were born. if you converse with them, they can finish each others sentences...lol.

[Bunny]

2. My daughter's good friends are identical twins.

I've known these girls since they were 9 months old and they were probably 16-17 before I could reliably tell them apart. It's a few years later now, and I don't see them nearly as much. So when I do, I have to think for a minute before I can figure out which twin is which. Karen is the independent, free spirited one and Katie is the more studious, focused one. They've always had and pursued separate interests, but they're pretty close nevertheless.

[caty]

3. I saw a documentary years ago

about a twin convention that is held every year. They were interviewing several of the twins when one broke down crying. She said that she hated that there was someone else who looked and dressed exactly like she did all the time. She said that every time she tried to do something different than her sister, like cut her hair or change her hair color, her sister would then cut her hair and change her hair color to be the same. It made me wonder if dressing twins the same was really a good idea. It seemed that addressing their individuality from birth might be a better idea. Separate bedrooms decorated differently, different wardrobes, etc.

All the other twins that were interviewed were happy being just like their twin sibling. But, as NNN0LHI was pointing out, what happens when they are separated, either by distance or death. There could be a real problem without both of them having a sense of themselves as independent individuals.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I knew some identical twin sisters in college

They roomed together, dressed alike, took all the same classes, and even, according to friends who worked in the dining hall, always ate the same things at meals, didn't mix much with other students. It was vaguely creepy.

They were both minoring in a foreign language, and so they went on a summer study abroad. The study abroad program could not place them with the same host family, so for the first time in their lives, they spent a lot of time apart.

They came back not so much in lockstep, and one of them even acquired a boyfriend the next year.