Twice as Nice

Ever encounter someone or something that makes you go "hmmm?" I realize that twins, triplets, and the like share a very special bond that us singletons can never hope to understand. I have a set of twin cousins and have known many multiples over the years. I am not talking about the Mary Kate and Ashley Oleson kind of twins either. Well, there is a set of twins that live in my community that bring new meaning to the word Doublemint Twins. However, they are not the buxom blondes that you might expect though. They are never without the other. My guess is that they are in their later teens or thereabouts. They both have long, wavy, reddish-brown hair that they usually keep in single ponytails. They dress in identical outfits most of the time or a variation of the same outfit, complete with their signature tennis shoes and ever present backpacks. I usually see them walking around the neighborhood together in perfect stride with one another. Their ponytails swing in perfect unison as well, which is the freakiest part. It is the most fascinating thing to watch as they do this fast-paced stomping throughout the neighborhood with such unified precision. You really have to see them to believe it.

I met them up close once about a year or two ago, when they came running into the park after a young disabled girl that they were babysitting. They sat down for a few minutes and chatted, but then took off to another part of the park. The strange thing about their approach was how they would follow their young charge like her shadow...literally and in unison. If she ran here, they ran there. If she went down the slide, they were both right behind her with incredible energy and pep. When I see them out and about nowadays, they now have two kids to look after, also seemingly disabled. They usally each are holding and swing the hands of the children they babysit. I believe they are homeschooled if I remember correctly, so they are around quite often in our area. I have no clue how these identical twins manage to mirror each other's movements so seamlessly in every aspect. I mentioned them to hubby and he said he noticed them too and thought how odd the whole scenario with them seemed. They appear to be very sweet and such, they just seem like an anomaly in the twin world. To understand more about the connection between twins, check out this book at...http://www.twinconnections.com/book.htm.

I remember this set of triplets in a kindergarten that I worked in a few years back. They weren't quite as unusual as this pair, but they did share a unique language and something extra that caused them to play together a lot. Their mother wanted them to remain close and so she refused to put them in separate classes. It was tough on their individual identity development. I enjoy watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 as the Gosselins struggle to care for their huge brood. In case you haven't see the show on Monday nights on TLC, Jon and Kate are raising a set of twins and sextuplets. They focus on their misadventures in raising their little ones and the lengths to which they'll go to make sure they each become their own person and get one-on-one time. The dynamics between the kids are adorable to watch. Anyhow, the telepathic conversations that transpire in the womb and continue on in real life are a foreign language to the rest of us.