My name is John. My twin’s name is James. We were separated at birth, so I have no conscious memory of him. I am now 37 years old.
I dreamed about my twin and had all sorts of unexplained feelings, out-of-the-blue pains or experiences over the years until I found my older twin sisters from my birth family.
I went through several foster homes as a child, and bounced around as a teenager in survival mode most of time.
Ten years ago my son was born. I made a commitment to find my origins so that my son could possibly be reconnected to family. It took several private investigators, lots of money and about 10 years to put all of the pieces together.
I found out that my father was already dead, just 40 days before I found him. However, my birth mother told me my brother’s name and the story about the beginning. She does not know what happened to him, nor do my older twin sisters. I pray every day that we can be together again.
I miss my brother James and worst part is that I don’t have closure. My older twin sisters have been my angels. Even though I have not found my brother James, I have been blessed with their acceptance of me into their lives. Thank you Pearlyne and Paula. I love you.
John Abanu
Minnesota
I love being a twin because you always have someone there for you through good and bad.
It is always fun to switch places, especially in school.
Ally
I was born without my twin. My twin was miscarried. I have always known I was supposed to be a twin.
I used to look for signs of any kind to see if I was right. I would tell my mom I was supposed to be a twin and then tell her why my twin was never born.
I have always felt the loss of not having her around and always wonder how different my life would be if she survived. My mom eventually told me when I got older what had happened to my twin.
Peah
I am certainly delighted, as I was able to relate to the stories faced by other twins. My sister and I were born in May 1989 with a difference of 20 minutes apart. We are identical and inseparable.
We wear the same clothes, have the same shoe size and have the same hairstyle. Even though we said that we wanted to change.
Although we have a lot of similarities there are some minor differences. My sister is right-handed while I am left-handed.
We attended the same school but different classes. My sister took accounts as one of her subjects while I took design. There was an occasion when we played a prank on our teacher. After school I stayed back to finish up my design project for my exam and my sister would usually sit beside me and wait for me to finish up my work. However, one day I went out to the school canteen leaving her alone in class with my work.
Incidentally, when I was out, my teacher was looking for me. My teacher did not know that my sister was not me. So he said to her “Have you finished your work? I want you to do this and this.” Not wanting to be rude, my sister let him finish his sentence and just nodded all the way. After he finished his sentence, my sister apologized and said “Sorry sir, but I am not your student.” And when I returned to class, he scolded me and told me the whole story and both of us laughed about it.
Syiqah
Pasir ris
Singapore
The most amazing thing happened to me in March of 1996. I gave birth to twin girls, on separate days! Sounds impossible right? Well anything is possible really.
The story was in the newspaper a day after the second baby was born. When the girls were in my stomach, there was a virus that was affecting one of my babies. Also, somehow, the umbilical cord was almost tied around my other baby’s neck.
The surgery took 2 1/2 hours to put it back into place without harming my baby. It was one of the scariest and strangest things I have ever seen.
On March 28th, 1996, I gave birth to Leanna Marie Bennett. She wasn’t in the best condition so they put her on live support straight away.
Then, two days later on March 30th, 1996, it was a true miracle. My second baby was born: Lillian Ann Bennett. The girls were both one month premature and were in life support for five weeks. It was so scary and I thought they weren’t going to survive, but I didn’t want to give up hope yet.
Now they are happy and healthy I hear, since they have been adopted. They were adopted at age 2 because I could no longer take care of them. I see them once a month and they are complete angels. I love you girls!
Carrie
Chicago, Illinois
1. They are overprotective.
2. Twin telepathy.
3. Confusing people.
4. Being able to TRADE outfits, not borrow without permission.
5. Liking the same things.
6. Having someone to talk to.
7. Being able to help each other out with homework.
8. Sharing a birthday. Sure its fun when all eyes are on you, but it’s more fun when you get to share it with somebody.
9. NOT liking the same guys.
10. Having a best friend who is always there for you.
Ellie Stauffer
Holton, Kansas
My dad was at work when my mom went into labor. My great-grandparents come over to drive mom to the hospital in Greenfield, IN. On the way there my mom’s water broke. She remembers waking up at the hospital and seeing an umbilical cord lying across her stomach.
She asked “Where is my baby?” fearing this baby had died, too. She’d had miscarriage a year prior while in her third month (May 1969).
Suddenly her water broke again and I was born. My mother is a sweet woman that just happens to be illiterate and I truly believe she was taken advantage of.
I found out that our family doctor had a student doctor working with him at that time. That student doctor stopped his studies shortly.
My mom was told during her pregnancy that she was going to have twins. The doctor even made jokes to her about taking one of the babies if it were a boy. He had three girls and never got his boy.
After I was born they cleaned me up and brought me back to my mom with a pink bow in my hair. Mom asked “Why is there a pink bow in my baby boy’s hair?” They just laughed and said that it was a mistake…me being such a pretty baby and all. Oddly enough, I grew up to be gay.
The doctor never would see me growing up. He would always just tell my mom to make sure I drank plenty of water and that was it. One time mom made an appointment for me and while we were sitting in the waiting room we were told that the doctor wasn’t there, but we both saw him and knew that they were lying.
As a teenager, and still today, people tell me that I looking just like someone else. People would even say to me “Hey John, how are you doing?” (my name is Steven) I even found out John’s last name, which just happened to be the same name as the student that delivered me.
I went to the Hancock County court house to see if their might be a birth or death certificate in case there was a stillbirth. There was not, and I was told that if a baby was born dead there didn’t have to be one.
Also if there was an adoption of some sort there wouldn’t have to be one either…illegal maybe?
I found John a few months ago and called him. I told him everything. He was not really surprised to hear all this; considering he was told many times that he had a twin roaming around. His birth date is a year and a half before mine. People tell me all kinds of stories that used to go on in hospitals in the 1970s and beyond. People switching and stealing babies and replacing their dead babies with stolen ones.
John said he would look into it. He also said that he knows of a Dr. M but that he was no relation to him. We still have each other’s info but he never got back to me on that subject.
Could he be my twin? Is the pink bow a sign that my twin was a girl? I don’t know if I will ever know the truth. My heart hurts so badly for the truth.
Steven Gillam
Indianapolis, IN
My sister and I are one minute apart. We are identical and mirror image. Mirror image means that some things about us are exactly opposite. I am right-handed and she is left-handed. I lost my right front tooth first; she lost her left front tooth first.
I love switching places with her to trick people. We do everything together. We share everything. We rarely argue. When we do, it’s about who gets to wear something one day when we both had the same idea to wear it then.
The only thing I don’t like is when people refer to us as “the twins.” We are different people and are totally different. (Well, not totally.) She is my confidant. We rarely keep secrets from each other.
I love her more than any of my other family members. We don’t quite have that whole twin telepathy thing. We may have when we were younger, but if we did no one ever noticed.
I love being a twin.
Jessica
South Carolina
About a week ago I dreamed I had died. Most people don’t make it to death in their dreams, but mine was different. I actually felt myself die and heard a deep voice talking to me in a language that did not seem modern.
When I had the dream I woke up immediately and stayed up from the time I had the dream until about 5 days later. Every time I got into a car and we would go around a curve I felt as if we were going to go off the road and wreck.
On January 23rd when I was heading home at about 9:30 pm I stopped feeling that strange feeling. When I got home I went upstairs and fell asleep next to my mom on our couch. At 3am I woke up just in time for two sheriffs, standing in front of the couch to tell me and my mom that my twin sister had been in a car when it had went around a curve, ran off the road and hit a bunch of trees.
My twin sister and good friend were both killed in the accident; they were both only 17 years old. The driver and other passenger survived.
Kyle
Carolina Beach, North Carolina
My mom and auntie do not look the same to me but other people think they do look like twins. Their voices sound the same. And when my auntie calls me I always say ‘yes mom’ and the same thing happens to my cousin when my mom calls.
Shalee Walker
England
