Give me my identity! (by Rachael)

To Fellow Twins:
To Those Like Me:
 

I apologize for using such a general term to address you, but I do not know your names so I had to default to such a lackluster definition. I truly am sorry for using this term when it is the very thing that makes my blood boil.
 

I am a twin, it is an aspect of me that has come to define and dominate my entire life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. When people ask us if it’s weird being a twin or stare at us because we’re two people who look exactly the same it genuinely confuses me. This is normal. This is what is natural (at least how I see it). Those of you without a twin cannot understand the depth and connection we share. So, no, it’s not weird being a twin. Honestly, those of you without a twin are the weird ones.
 

I am a twin, but “twin” is not my name, despite what most people seem to think. “Are the twins ready?” “Where are the twins?” “I thought the twins…” Blah, blah, blah, you get the idea.
 

Every time I hear this I involuntarily stop and grit my teeth, but usually just brush it off in the end. It’s not something that pisses me off to the point of going off on someone or round-house kicking them or something like that. I mean, my sister whose two years older than me addresses us as that, as well as my parents, and my friends. I know people don’t mean it to be offensive. I know that they don’t mean to shrewdly label us as one single being when in fact, low and behold, we’re two individuals. Two minds, two bodies, two separate people.
 

I mean, is that so hard to understand?
 

Now I know I don’t try to make a distinction between us either. She is my twin, my counterpart, the Yin to my Yang. Without her I’d be lost, broken, incomplete. There’s no way I could ever be someone other than a twin.
 

So I don’t blame people for using this generic (yet still slightly offensive) term. Still, every time I hear “Oh, the twins…”I freeze and have to bite my tongue to resist snapping at someone or hold back a glare. Maybe I should start calling people by things that define them instead? “Hey, Redhead?” “What’s up, lazy eye?” 
 

No, I would never do that, but maybe people can take that idea into consideration next time they think about addressing a twin as “twin.” Do ya have to label people like us by one sole idea, and nothing else? Being a twin is not what solely encompasses who I am as a whole person, it is a big part of my life, but not the whole thing. Maybe you other people who are like me can understand how this makes me feel? Only you can really comprehend where I am coming from, I guess.
 

I even subconsciously use “we” instead of “I” more often than not throughout this entire rant and throughout my entire life, but it’s just become that natural to me.
 

So yes, I am a twin.
 

Yes, I would never, ever change that fact.
 

But my name is not “twin.”
 

It’s Rachael.