Twins

I have a question for you, my imaginary friends, do you think that if all people were born in fraternal pairs we would be more empathetic, better at sharing, more well-adjusted and more content? I think we might. Here's why.

When my baby sister, Ashley, was born, my mother used to say she should have been twins. She was the youngest of three girls by five years and she was often bored and lonely. My mother contested that if she had been a set of twins, she would have had a built-in playmate. She wouldn't have constantly whined to my mother:
"Can I have a friend over?"
"I'm booooooooored...What can I play?"
"Will you play a game with me?"

She is lucky that when she was four, we moved into a neighborhood that had a family of three little girls. These were her "sisters" and Alison their oldest, her twin. The two fought like, loved each other like and appreciated each other like sisters. They learned how to state their needs to each other clearly. They were there for each other. They are actually now twenty-five year old adults living together in Charlestown, MA.

Ashley is probably the most well-adjusted of us three girls. Is this because of her twin? Would I have been better adjusted if I had gone through life with a best friend who was always there for me and who loved me just as I was? Maybe, but being the bossy oldest girl, I wonder if I would have wanted to share those first five years, when I had my parents all to myself, with anyone. Maybe not.