Danielle
Zingalis
Long
Essay 2 – Draft
Different Sides
of the Same Door
We were always different. As babies and toddlers we were
dressed in matching clothes and had the same hairstyles, but looking the same
and acting the same is so different. I was always the one to walk to my own
speed and Chrissy wasn’t. All that didn’t matter though, it didn’t matter how
different we acted or how different our personalities were, and we were always
inseparable.
Back when VHS’s were still popular and home videos were
something used to capture major moments, my dad was always there with a camera
in his hands. A few years ago we were watching some home videos and there was
one that seemed to have given me that “ah-ha” moment where I saw I was always
this way. It was Halloween and we were at a school participating in the holiday
activities for the kids. I couldn’t have been more than five years old. The
game that was shown on the video was a representation of musical chairs,
instead of chairs being used there was large paper squares on the floor. The
same concepts applies for the game, once the music stops everyone had to get on
a square. It seemed that I didn’t like the rules because once the music started
playing I went to stand on a square. I didn’t want to play the game by the
rules they had, I was so young and already walking to my own beat. It was
during that time that Chrissy and I were inseparable, we were in the same
preschool class and kindergarten class and all of our time was spent
together.
It wasn’t until elementary school that they decided to
split us up. As inseparable as we were, the school thought we should be
interacting with other students our age as if the school knew what was best for
me and my sister. Nonetheless we were separated and put into different classes.
Maybe it helped us gain some independence, we were locked at the hip since
birth and maybe a little space did us some good, but I can’t say for sure. All
I know is that whether the school knew what they were doing or not when it came
to our interactions with other students, Chrissy and I were still inseparable and
a different class wasn’t going to change that.
By the time we went to High School, we couldn’t be
separated anymore. There wasn’t enough classes and too many students. It was
nice to be able to have a class with my twin again after having being separated
in school for so long. It’s so hard to say for certain when we became the
people we are today, but I do think it’s safe to say that by High School,
Chrissy and I were both set in our ways. During the four High School years that
we shared, we both had the same friends and a few that were just mine or just
hers. It was also during those years that people would refer to Chrissy as “the
nice one” and me as “the mean one,” and I was fine with that. It was the truth.
That was all a part of our personalities, Chrissy has always been a tolerant
and forgiving person, it’s something I love about her. Me, on the other hand, I
was far from forgiving people easily. I always knew how to hold on to a grudge.
I had no tolerance for stupidity or practical jokes. My mom always says that my
humor always has been on a different level than everyone in the family.
I like to think about what may happen before it happens,
especially in a situation I haven’t been in before. I think about the
consequences and the repercussions, I map out everything that could possibly go
wrong and Chrissy is willing to try anything and think later. I really love
that about her. I love that she is so willing to be open about new experiences
and willing to try anything. I am too paranoid to do things like that, I always
think about what could go wrong rather than what could go right. With all my
irrational fears, I think me being slightly paranoid is normal for me, but not
for Chrissy. In a way, because we are so different, we protect each other.
When it comes to being in the dark, having bugs in the
house, having people call me names, I know Chrissy will be there to make sure
that I don’t fall. She’ll sit with me so I won’t be alone when the sun goes
down, she’ll have a napkin ready to kill the bug once she hears me screaming,
and she will never let anyone get away with talking bad about me. I would do
the same for her, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. When she is
willing to dive in head first, I hold her back and tell her to think before she
acts, I never let anyone bad mouth my sister to me in any way, and if she
needed help with anything, I would always help her.
Chrissy is a student at Kean enrolled in the Art and
Education program. Even when she was younger, she has this amazing talent for
drawing and painting. If she is given an object to draw, she will draw to par,
it will look absolutely stunning. I, on the other hand, don’t have an artistic
bone in my body. In High School, I had to take a drawing class and she happened
to be in the same class with me, she always helped me. She always sat next to
me and helped me with my projects and I was so appreciative. I was always the
more academic type. I would much rather write a paper than anything else,
writing always came easy to me. Chrissy struggles when it comes to her writing,
she always tries her hardest and then I will take her papers and look over them
and correct them. I like that we are so different in that artistic and academic
way, she uses the left side of her brain and I am on the right.
I always wonder what our lives would be like if we were
the same, if we thought the same way and acted the same way. Would be as close
as we are? Would be able to tolerate each other the way we do now? Maybe it’s
because we are so different that we get along so well, it would be so strange
to have this amazing relationship with her if we were so alike. I know I can go
to her and talk to her about anything and she will be understanding and calm.
With me, it would be completely different. If she came to me about anything she
knows that whatever answer or advice I give her will be what she needs to hear
and not what she wants to hear. It’s not always about being the “same” all the
time. When people think of twins they can often think about dressing the same
and having the same hairstyle and being the identical version of the other.
That’s not who Chrissy and I are. We may share the same clothes, but that’s
about it. We are so different and we think so differently, it’s the reason I
think we are so close. We balance each other out and keep each other on steady
ground. It’s always about being there for the other person when they may fall,
it’s nice to know I have her to catch me in case I ever fall and she knows that
I would do the same for her.
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