A Tale of Two Twins
By Eden Diehl, Assistant Director of Campus Engagement — Fraternity & Sorority Life at Doane University
Throughout my life, I have always been steadfast in my belief that I will always have someone who will love me unconditionally. People often romanticize the notion of unconditional love as this floaty, fairy-tale-esque romance scenario. For me, though, I’ve had that unconditional love from day one — even before we made our extraordinary debut at almost sixteen pounds as babies, we were “womb-mates” duking it out to fight for space like it was prime real estate.
Growing up as identical twins, we were like magnets to the curious and prying eyes of total strangers. We often referred to ourselves as some zoo exhibit, ready to be observed and prodded. Everywhere we went, we’d get bombarded with questions that forced us to become socialites: How much did each of you weigh at birth? Who’s older, and by how much? Are you best friends? Did you ever pull pranks on your teachers? It was this constant Q&A that made us realize just how much of an oddity it was to be an identical twin. Something that was so natural and normal to us was enough to make a total stranger want to investigate — perhaps we missed the opportunity to make a business of it by charging admission!
As Ivy and I are approaching our 30th birthday this year, it’s clear that our bond is more than the sharing of DNA. Our connection is forged on the battlefield of the all too familiar bickering of siblings and general nonsense we’re known to drum up just for the sake of making one another laugh.
There is nothing quite like playing a duet at a piano recital, knowing that just days earlier, you’d elbowed one another so aggressively on the piano bench that our practicing ended in tears. One small knock of the elbows in front of a crowd of budding musicians and their parents would inevitably result in our quiet giggling, begging ourselves to pull it together before our mother noticed we were about to break into a full-blown laughing fit and give us the business once we got home. Our antics continued into our teenage years — we would get so competitive playing Wii Sports in high school that at one point, I swung my “tennis racket” so ferociously that I broke her finger… and we have the entire series of events documented on camera. I never stood a chance in convincing my mother that nothing had happened that was directly my fault and that Ivy was just as much of a guilty party (she was, I’m sure, standing just close enough to throw me off my game) — to this day, it’s a repeatedly shared memory from the archives of our Facebook profiles.
From high school boyfriends asking Ivy my favorite candy and her replying with hers to secure she got a twin tax later, to us just last weekend going back and forth over who got what side of the hotel bed in front of our mom who couldn’t help but remind us that we are, in fact, now full-fledged adults, our lives have been intertwined in ways that often left others in awe of our dynamic.
Now, in adulthood, Ivy and I continue to fall into the same patterns of teasing one another just for the sake of bringing joy to our lives. It’s as if our universe had a cosmic plan for us to do everything in tandem, even when we aren’t physically in the same city anymore. From our shared pet peeves (people not closing the gap in a drive-through, slow walkers, etc…) to accidentally sending each other the exact same TikTok, our brains continue to experience the world more similarly than not.
So, here’s to Ivy — my identical twin sister — she is and always will be my anchor in the stormiest of seas, the physical representation of how powerful her unconditional love is in making every second of life worth living. While we will have to navigate the unpredictable waters of life, I know I will always find comfort in knowing that no matter where life takes us, Ivy will always be my partner in crime, my confidante, and the one who knows me better than I know myself.
The blog posts in Forward. Together. are intended to foster an inclusive community of empathy and curiosity at Doane University by providing a glimpse into various individual identities and worldviews. These are community members’ unique stories and should not be presumed to be the experience of all who share the same identity.
