My twins share a unique bond.  No matter how hard I try I will never fully understand it because I’m not a twin. Sure, I know what it’s like to have a sibling, but I can still remember life before my brother was born. Being four years older than my brother, I also was never with him 24/7 the way my twins are with each.

I like to refer to their interesting sibling bond as twinship. Mila and Eli were wombmates for eight months before I even caught a glimpse of them and held them in my arms. They’ve been nearly inseparable since birth.  Other than the extra week that Eli spent in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), they’ve never been apart from each other for one night until now.

Mila is taking her first solo trip to Grandma’s house. Eli will have his turn at a solo trip next. Just before Grandma left with Mila, this is the exchange I heard between my twins.

Eli: “Mila, I’m going to miss you.”

Mila: If you start to miss me, you can just look at my picture.

Eli: What picture?

Mila: That picture (one of Mila at nine months old) on the wall with me holding the daisy.

Eli: But that’s a baby picture. I want to see a picture of you grown up.

Mila: (walking over to the Christmas tree to grab an ornament with her preschool picture) Maybe you can just look at this one when you miss me.

Eli: (grabbing the preschool ornament with his photo) And maybe you can take this picture of me to look at when you miss me.

An hour after Mila left the house Eli says, “I really miss Mila. I wish she was here with me.”

Part of me feels really sad for Eli because his bff is gone. At the same time, I know it’s good for them to have some time apart.

The funny thing is that they’d probably be fighting right now if she were home. They are best friends and worst enemies, and sometimes that’s all in one day. That’s twinship for you.

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