Last month, my fraternal twin Charles got COVID. I got the text during sixth period on a Friday that he was positive and I was sent to go stay with my mom at her apartment. Charles would isolate at my dads by himself while my dad was on vacation.

He called me every day while he was isolated. He said it was nice to have the place to himself, but I assume he felt somewhat alone during the isolation days. He helped himself to anything he wanted in the fridge.

My mom said this situation, us keeping in touch but being separated, is what things would be like during college.

We were each other’s best friends growing up, and still are. In elementary school, Charles used to complain when we were not on the same team during soccer practice. I remember being disappointed not being in the same Kindergarten class. We do the typical sibling stuff like sharing clothes and a room, but we also have been called each other’s names an enormous amount of times because we look so alike, something not all siblings can say.

Despite almost sharing each other’s lives up to this point, we will not always be physically side by side. Charles plans on attending college in another state, and I plan to attend college locally. We will find separate friend groups, and we will have different majors. This is not to say we do not have current differences, but they will be exacerbated through the college years. Charles plans to major in linguistics, while I am leaning towards history. However, I am sure we will have fascinating discussions about those things when we reunite.

Will we call each other every day when in college like we did during Charles’ quarantine? Maybe at first. However, we will probably slow down contact at some point … See each other on holidays … Go our separate ways. Become separate people. Never fully leaving each other though.

Womb to tomb. Together forever. Whatever funny saying you want to put to it, there is something special about twinship. We fittingly have a podcast and band called Eternal Fraternal, and I have excellent memories playing with Charles in the band and talking on the podcast.

I am not sure if there is some special twin bond that other siblings do not share, but I do know we have a bond. This is the person I used to kick in the womb. This is the person who’s hit the same milestones as me at the same time: graduating various schools, driving, prom, graduating high school, etcetera. There has to be some sort of bond that is formed from that, some bond that is formed from sharing everything.

I will miss you when you go off to college Charles. However, remember this: We may branch off, but branches always trace back to their shared stem.