IAMA Identical mirror twin

I, too, have a mirror twin. Unfortunately, we don't talk anymore. When we were children he would always try to copy me (and I mean always). It got on my nerves so much that I stopped talking to him when we were young. Nowadays I only rarely see him. I live in a small town, so sometimes I'll see him through a shop window or in a passing car. Mostly, though, he lives behind a piece of glass in my bathroom.

Ha ha wow..... You had me heartbroken through the beginning of that. I could NEVER imagine not talking to Ash. The longest we went without talking to each other was 10 days, but that was because I was in Ireland and she was in the States and we didn't have phones to contact each other. As much as I loved Ireland, I couldn't wait to get home just so we could talk again.

Based on the info you've provided, I see that all IMTs have braces. Can you confirm/deny this?

100% confirmed. Ha ha ha ha! Just kidding. Ash and I get ours off in November.

Which one of you has her heart on the 'wrong' side?

All left handed people are said to have had a twin in the womb (or in the process of becoming multiple cells to become a baby). So in a sense all left handed people are the 'main' twin. So in this case, since I am right handed I would be the twin of my twin. SO I am Ashley's twin, she's not my twin. (Sorry I have studied this for years. It makes sense to me but most people I explain it to don't understand). Anyway, with that being said, MY organs would be the ones to shift to her image. My heart isn't on the completely opposite side of my chest, but it IS shifted.

I would just like to point out that the "Twins theory" for handedness is just that..a theory. And some australian researchers have claimed to debunk it: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_505182.htm

Wow! Thanks for this! I grew up with all my research for years thinking this was true. I really appreciate you putting this up. I love learning new information, so now I get to correct it. It was a cool theory to think about, at least!

Also, from the brief reading I just did it seems that organ mirroring doesn't usually occur even in IMT, so unless you have had an MRI or chest x-ray I wouldn't assume you have mirrored organs either.

That's what our doctors told us. We've had lots of twin tests (blood draws, hundred question surveys, DNA samples, Psychology tests/experiments) but we have never had x-rays. I guess now that I'm learning differences I should go get us checked out.

We have always been told that our organs were shifted.

Do you have any X-rays or anything? I'm fascinated :)

Unfortunately we don't. I would love to see them too. Ash is the clumsiest of both of us and she has broken 6 bones. She has plenty of x-rays of her body parts and broken bones. Just about the only x-ray I have of myself is of my teeth at the dentist.

Very pretty.

I will lase you. Or her. I'm not sure. Like this.

End result.

Oh my gosh! This is beautiful! wow! I can't believe we got 'lazer guy' on here. Thanks so much! That's great!

Hi. I am an identical twin and I thought I could share with you an answer to the most annoying question twins get. That question is "what's it like being a twin?" and I always respond the with the best (and truly only) answer: "What's it like not being a twin?". Enjoy.

That's a fantastic answer! I never thought of answering it that way. I usually go off on a long-winded explanation of strange experiences that 'normal' people might never get the chance to experience.

Do you ever wish you weren't a twin? I have a fraternal twin and I've always wondered what it would be like if we were identical. One thing I always think about is what it would be like to know your husband/boyfriend/significant-other finds your sister just as physically attractive as you. Have you ever thought about this or had any jealous thoughts?

1. I LOVE being a twin. I would never change that ever.
2. I have often thought how it wold be different to have a brother instead of a sister. Most twins I've met always fight, so I hope we wouldn't have fought.

3.I once dated a boy (he was my first kiss) and we were all really good friends. We decided to break it off and go back to being friends just because it wasn't working out. He asked me a week later if he could ask my sister to prom. I honestly didn't mind. But she told him no.

We kind of have this pact between us. If Ash starts to like somebody I instantly tell myself not to like them. (In a relationship kind of way.... not in a Now-I-have-to-hate-you kind of way). I could NEVER date any guy she's ever been with. It's just natural for me to not like them. I guess I could relate it to them suddenly being like a brother. I wouldn't date my brother (if I had one). So they can be close- but not boyfriend close.

How many guys have asked you if you've slept with the same guy together? My twin and I just berate them into eternal shame if this happens.

Honestly, it's going to happen. I've heard from many guys that this is the ultimate dream (or whatever). So now that I've come to terms with that, I just laugh at them. Honestly, it's not worth getting upset over.

Which one of you got the soul?

She got the soul.... I got the brain.

Care to share with us an amusing confusion that has happened with you and your sister?

There are so so SO many stories to tell. Here is one of the more recent ones: We are in the same University, but we are majoring in different areas. She is in Psychology and I am in Education. Those two areas are SO different that they are in completely different buildings on campus. Every once in a while I'll have to walk through one of the other buildings to get to a certain class. One day this just so happened to be the case and I was running late so I was walking fast paced. Some random guy came up behind me, picked me up and swung me around saying "ASHLEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Instantly I knew what was going on, but he apparently didn't know I was a twin. I kind of looked at him funny and said, "Sorry I'm not Ashley." He seemed really confused and I explained that I was her twin. Since he was in her Psychology classes he was probably thinking that I was playing a psychology trick on him. He wouldn't believe me for the longest time. I pulled out my phone to show him a picture of us and he lost his sh*t. Completely laughing and saying a few swear words, clapping his hands and laughing again. He was embarrassed and apologized for picking me up. The reactions to us being twins is usually always very priceless.

Do you ever get asked a million seedy questions on reddit? Or is this something you foresee in the (very) near future?

I'm sure it will happen. We get asked a zillion questions anyway. Who is older? Who is the evil one? How can you tell each other apart? Who makes better grades? Do you share the same room? Do you share the same bed? Do you like the same boys?

I could go on and on. One day we went out to lunch together and just listed all the questions we are normally asked in a week.

Very interesting! I have an identical twin sister myself (not IMTs). What personality differences do you two have? Does one stand out as the outgoing one? Have you spent any significant periods of time away from each other?

1. Ash is very very VERY outgoing. She was the talker and I was the listener. Even to this day she will dominate a conversation and I will just as happily listen. She likes to be the show-off and the one taking the stage. I like to just sit quietly and write. We even have videos of us when we were younger. We both had to give a speech about something for class and ash gave this long winded explanation then it was my turn. I said two sentences and then gave the stage back to her. Writing is a different matter. I could write and write for hours. Ash will write two sentences and be off on different things. In a sense, Ash always made the friends and by twin-osmossis I became their friends too.

Who is the evil twin? I don't see a goatee....

Ha ha ha we are both pretty evil when it comes to teaming up and going against someone. I would probably be considered the 'evil' on from her past boyfriends. I am very VERY protective of Ash. If someone hurt her I would lash out at them with the fury of ten mothers. I just about beat up one of her boyfriends that cheat on her, and I completely let another boy have it for spreading bad rumors about her at school. If you mess with her be prepared to feel my wrath.

All I can say is I am glad atleast you have your twin. :/ I am a fraternal twin and mine died in a car wreck when we were 18. Because of it my mom made me go to therapy so I would not kill myself. I didn't even want to do either.

My question is...has a traumatic experience happened to one of you that caused the other troubles too? (psychologically)

Yes. Actually there are a lot of things that happen that affects both of us. For example, I stated in another comment that Ash is prone to breaking her bones. I still have yet to break anything. I couldn't stand to be around her for more than a few hours because of the pain she was in. It was like I could feel it too. The same things happens when she has cramps. Even when I ma not on 'curse week' I can't handle being around her when she is in pain. One weekend we were visiting family and she woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. I stayed with her in the bathroom to support her, but she was in so much pain from cramps that I started to get sick and I ran out of the room and threw up in the kitchen. I ended up lying on the couch all afternoon on the other side of the room. I wasn't on my period at all, but I as just as out of commission.

I do know that we both have an exceptional phobia of needles. I get physically sick any time I think of getting a shot or blood drawn. he funny thing is, Ash is the same way, but if she is with me and has to get a shot, for some reason my 'protection mode' comes on and all I can think about is making her feel better. I suddenly don't have a care in the world and you could stick me with ten needles.

The opposite is for blood draws. Ash is completely fine and I am the one freaking out when we have to get blood drawn. It's like we set aside our own biggest fear to comfort the other one.

Now if I was alone and getting a shot- like, if Ash wasn't there to get a shot with me, I am a blubbering sniveling useless pile of jelly that can't function.

So one of you has what would be considered 'normal' inside anatomy while the other is backwards? Did you lose your teeth oppositely?

Not all of our teeth but we did have a pretty funny experience with our front teeth. We lost them on the same night within an hour apart. They were on opposite sides too.(One each) I almost always remember losing our teeth very near each other. Mom would decorate the 'tooth fairy' envelopes before putting them under our pillows and I seem to remember both of us waking up on more than one occasion to find we had been visited. I do remember the tooth fairy 'forgetting to visit' one of us until the other had lost a tooth. Now that I think about it we lost teeth quite close to each other. I don't think they were always on the opposite sides, though.

Do you prefer Windex or Pledge?

Windex has a smooth aftertaste. I'm not very fond of the woody pledge.

Hi, this is"lefthanded" twin in all those pictures :)

I can confirm that this is my twin. I already put you in the edit, Ash.

I am a father of identical twin girls. They are 15 months old now.

Any advice you wish to give?

My little girls - http://imgur.com/3CQDr

As twins we always saw things as having to be fair. Our parents did an excellent job of being fair to both of us. If one got something, the other would get something as well. (unless it was punishment.... but we usually got into trouble together). We can't help but want to feel equal, and we always want to compete against each other.

Just wait for potty training. If your adorable girls are anything like my sister and I just say, "Who thinks they can learn to be potty trained the fastest?" and in a week you'll have two professional potty users.

DON'T compare them. Please don't. If you do, do it in your head. Never say, "well she can do this better than you can." That will break their soul. It can never be mended. Fairness and equality is the best advice I can give!

What about moles/freckles. It could be the makeup but I see yours by your neck but not on your sister? Or does that not take part of being IMT?

Sorry, this is just the first time I've heard of this!

We have lots of different skin markings, but we do not have mirrored moles and such. I think those are just a product of environment or a collection of cells. (I.e. sunlight and whatnot). That's how mom and dad would tell us apart when we were little. I have a mole on my chest AND on my middle finger. Now that I'm grown up you can't exactly look at the one on my chest to determine who I am without being indecent. Middle finger= the next best thing.

In other words, if you catch someone staring at your chest to tell which twin you are, the middle finger you present them with immediately thereafter is just to help them out.

But of course.

Favorite pranks? I read the 'boyfriend at the door', excellent trickery ;)

I was ALWAYS the rule follower, Ash.... lets just say she lives life for fun. Every year we talked about switching classes for April Fools but I never wanted to do it because of my need-to-constantly-follow-rules problem.

1.In eighth grade my teacher called me to her desk and told me to go get Ash from the other class. I thought it was odd but I did. She then grinned and told us to switch classes and see how far we got. Ash was all gung-ho for it, but I was about to have a breakdown. A teacher was telling me to break the rules..... it was like dividing by zero. Anyway, we did it. I went to Ash's homeroom and Ash sat in mine. Ashley's teacher was fooled for a few minutes, but when she figured it out she was NOT impressed. She angrily told me to go back to my class and get my sister back. Some of the other students thought it was cool. But not her. 2. We have this fun game we play where we 'read each others minds.' You can ask us a series of questions and the other twin will ALWAYS guess the answer. We've been doing it forever, and it IS a trick (i.e. not mind reading). 3.We are so close we don't need to speak to each other to know what the other is thinking. I can just tell by an eye glance at a certain time what she is thinking. It is a great thing to have when she's across the room and we need to communicate. I can't explain it.... it's just something we've always done. When I think of more tricks I'll post them.

I also am a twin. Not an identical twinor IMT, just twins. But sometimes we know EXACTLY what the other one thinks, or say the same words at the same time, even singing the same song at the exact same sentence. Do you experience this too?

All the time! I'll be home alone singing a song, then Ash will come in the door a few hours later and she'll start singing the song I had been singing. We Love to sing. We always got asked to sing at pep rallies, soft ball games, football games. We've even sung the national Anthem for the Lynx Hockey games and Green jackets. We have been on stage singing since we were 2. 1.Proof:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXIa9tRtEsY&list=UUXv7mNp8Nj6VCn7Fcb0QB9g&index=5&feature=plcp 2. Proof at green jackets game:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s1v5fHkVuk&list=UUXv7mNp8Nj6VCn7Fcb0QB9g&index=47&feature=plpp_video I prefer the first video because we sound better, but the second one you can see us. As a side note, I USED to be heavier than Ash but now we are back to weighing the same.

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We do have a neat trick on a song where I'll play with my fingers and she will play with the bow....or visa versa.

My twin brother and I (IMT) once banged a girl together. AMA

High 5ive?

Is it me or are your hair colors a bit different in all of the pictures? Did you color it just so you could be told apart?

Ash has always been a hair changing fanatic! She had pink under-highlighted hair last year. I think this year she wants to do rainbow. I've always gone for the natural look. She did convince me once to lighten mine. I did it in high school and I had practically white hair it was bleached so badly. The other two twins in that picture had the same problem. One of them loved to darken her hair while the other preferred it natural.

This is Ashley(right) and our Cousin Brittany(left) after dying their hair pink last year:http://imgur.com/du2i0

Your cousin looks a lot like the first picture of Ashley.

Brittany has always been compared to Ash and I looking like us. She worked at the same job as us for a while and people were always asking if she was our sister.

This is kind of awesome actually, I've always wondered what it would be like to test hair color with no risk, you get an actual view of it!

Oh you have no idea. If there is a new shampoo out there in the market. one of us will try it while the other tries something different. It's like we are our own test subjects to see what will work best with our hair.

Do people realise that you're mirrored ?

Not so much, not unless we point it out to them. In pictures my left eye is more 'squinty' and her right eye is more 'squinty.' I was trying to find a good picture of us that demonstrated this, but it is hardly noticeable. Ash and I just noticed it because we scrutinize every photograph. I will keep looking and post one when I find it.

Do you have the same friends. Do you go to every party/social event together? What is the longest time you have been away from each other?

I was in Ireland for 10 days last summer. Even though it was a fabulous vacation (and I got to play American Bluegrass in an Irish Pub, one of my top ten bucket list things to do), I started to get depressed and I couldn't wait to get back to her. We talk ever day and we are extremely very close. Before that I think the longest we had been away was maybe three days.

what can your sister do better than you that you wish you could? and vice-versa.

Oh man, so many things. First of all, she is so so SO amazing at being out there. She has a different style of singing too. I mean, we both sing the same, but sometimes she has a different kind of oomph. I know I'm really good at writing, but I think she is amazing at it too, so I can't exactly say that I ma better at something that she isn't.

EDIT: I forgot! I am a beast at DDR. not puny little easy mode. I'm expert all the way baby! I do DDR every weekend for two hours a day. (I used to weigh 200+ pounds and now I'm down to 112 thanks to DDR cardio). So that's something I'm really good at that she isn't.

Great job on the weight loss! That's very impressive.

Thanks. This is me a year ago and a couple weeks ago:

Proof:http://imgur.com/frS7e

Holy shit! All that from DDR?

Yes. DDR is probably my favorite thing to do and I'd recommend it to people anywhere. I've been told to be the DDR poster child (kind of like the subway guy).

Wow. Again: that's incredible. Great job! So did your sister ever get heavy, as well, or was that a solely personal struggle?

We were both heavy in middle grades. I then lost a lot of weight in 8th grade, which inspired her to do the same. Unfortunately in high school I gained it back. Now that I'm in college I've lost it all and I've kept it all off for almost 2 years now.

How does your boyfriend know you are you and not your sister?

Ha ha ha we get asked this a lot. We have somewhat different personalities. It was fun to go answer the door whenever her boyfriend would visit. It's that classic look of 'Oh hi' which then turns to the look of 'which one are you' to the look of 'you got me again!' It is a very hilarious series of facial expressions that I get to decipher.

I am the father of the talking twins on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY . My wife is a twin as well. What would you tell your parents you wish they did differently?

I am very proud of how my parents raised us. We were instilled with manners, kindness towards others, etiquette, and open mindedness. Honestly, I love how I was raised. I think the only complaint was that we weren't allowed to watch some movies until we were old enough even though our friends were watching them. But that's just good parenting. I will do the same for my children.

It is an honor to meet you! Your video is fascinating and so adorable. you don't know how many people I've shared that video with.

I'm a twin too, we are 99% identical, but not mirrored :) that must be cool. Which one of you was first?

Ashley was first by 1 minute. Mom and Dad didn't tell us who was older until we were 10 years old. They didn't want us to say things like, "Well I'm older so I get to do this first." The funny thing is, after they told us just to make a joke of it we constantly went around the house pretending to tease each other about being older and younger. We still do it sometimes as a joke.