Streaking through the kitchen on her new birthday present, we find Lauren, one of a pair
of twins belonging to Paul and Carla, our friends and neighbors.
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We’ve been invited to their second birthday party, and just moments ago was the unveiling
of their identical new turquoise tricycles. In this painting, we catch a blurred glimpse of Carla
on the left, attempting to protect either Lauren or the kitchen cabinetry. Probably both.
Lauren clambered onto the shiny new thing and pushed her way into motion, giggling
madly as she discovered speed. Ashley, so different from Lauren right from the beginning,
stood beside her new trike for quite a while and looked on with quiet reserve. But by the
end of the afternoon, they had both discovered, to their absolute delight, that rolling
over our shoeless toes drew yelps of pain.
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To watch twins grow is very different from watching single children. By this age, they have
already developed very distinct personalities and behaviors. These traits are more difficult
to distinguish in single-born children, because they are different from one another in age
and rearing. Lauren is “jump in with both feet, never mind the cost,” while Ashley is a bit
more the “wait and see what happens to Lauren” type.
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These are Paul and Carla’s first children. They’ll never understand raising one at a time,
unless they have more. And, as the father of two single-born girls, I’ll never know their
experience. But based on what I’ve observed in raising my kids, Lauren and Ashley’s
play will always have a ‘twin’ dimension to it. They’re obliged to share and interact before
their time. They must have as many variations for the word “share” as the Inuit have for
the word “snow.”
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Having a twin may be both a blessing and, at times, a curse. But I think that neither girl
will ever feel alone in the world. That must be a comforting feeling.
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Mark Heine