My twin brother and I are juniors at different high schools. People think it is bizarre that we are twins because we look nothing alike and our personalities are totally opposite. While I look more like my mom with brown/red hair and green eyes, Eric looks more like my dad, except the fact that he has blond hair and blue eyes.

He makes straight A's; I've been diagnosed with learning disabilities. He is quiet and I am loud. We are totally opposite except for two things: The fact that we are each other's best friend and our smiles are exactly the same.

I've known this for as long as I can remember. Instead of a security blanket or a teddy bear, I had Eric. When Mommy or Daddy weren't there, as long as Eric was, I was fine. Not a lot has changed since then. We recently went to an auction and raffle drawing at a charity event. Eric and I both had tickets for the raffle, however our numbers were all off because I had showed up to the event an hour earlier than Eric!

Several items were raffled off, until the last item was up: A $20 gift certificate to Olive Garden. We know that this is not a big deal but we all like winning something. They called a number and Eric and I, sitting next to each other, both sat up, looked at the stage, then looked at each other. We both smiled and held up our tickets. As I reflect back on this I bet everybody was wondering what we were doing. When comparing the tickets, we realized that Eric had the number they called, and my number was the same number, in reverse order.

Eric and I went onstage, got our gift certificate, and ate together at Olive Garden the next weekend. When looking through family videos, I realized our relationship hasn't changed at all considering how much we've grown up. We're still the little kids tackling and biting each other, like two little puppies, but now we're two 16-year olds acting like idiots. And none of this changes the fact that I love my brother.

Elizabeth Leigh Kohnen

Highlands Ranch, CO