THE BIRTHDAY WEEK BEGINS !!!!

OUR birthday is next week. WE always celebrate together.
And ask US...WE always speak in plural pronouns. Its a twin thing. Not many people understand.

Birthdays were always celebrated in our family growing up. We felt special. But as two of five children, we were not singled out as any more important than any of our other siblings. The twin thing was a part of who we were but we were raised as two individuals, put in separate classrooms, encouraged to have different friends. Probably because of these efforts on the part of our parents, we grew even closer as adults as we began our families and progressed into middle age. We share similar interests, hobbies and values. More so than with our other siblings. We shared a womb for nine months and a bedroom for the next 18 years.


As spunky 18 year old college freshmen, my twin and I had the brilliant idea of having a Birthday Week. A Birthday Extravaganza, if you will. We argued that after having shared a birthday for 18 years (which is exactly 9 birthdays each)we deserved to be celebrated for an entire week for ever after. Our mother eagerly played along and for an entire week gifts were left at our places at the breakfast table. We were special, we were loved. Over the years, the Birthday Week waned (our husbands refused to play along). This is a busy time of the year. We each had children with birthdays closed to ours and we have spent the past years planning children's parties, readying kids for proms, graduations, and summer programs.

Our children have often argued amongst themselves over who will be selected to live with us in our twilight years, convinced that we will be living together in a condo in Miami wearing the same shade of red lipstick and extremely bright colored clothing. Wonder who the lucky child will be?

Somehow our Birthday Extravaganza became, once again, simply a birthDAY. Of course, when celebrated appropriately (with love and kind thoughts) ALL birthdays are happy. Our families will celebrate with us and we will find time to celebrate together another year of looking alike, thinking alike, and being alike. I cannot think of anyone I would rather share a birthday with....Happy Birthday Dear Sister.