I’d like to begin my second blog post with an image. Two bodies hunch over, clutch at their lower abdomens and struggle for a breath. Do they have appendicitis? Are they experiencing simultaneous seizures? Or are they in the throes of extreme grief? No. Many have stood witness to what has become a common phenomenon between the two twins. They laugh until their faces turn red. They laugh until they have to gasp to find air. They laugh so hard that it hurts, it really, really hurts. What brings on such an event? Let me tell you, it can be as simple as an elongated ‘eyew’ drawn out in a high-pitched squeal, or as complicated as a single knowing glance with the suggestion of a smile. This is to say, it really doesn’t take much. With the ability to make light of each other’s follies and laugh at one’s faults, laughter can be said to be an important facet in any good relationship, but it is absolutely vital, no necessary, to the twinship and Andrea and I share.
In her first entry, Andrea suggested the wit in squabbling, bickering, and argument as our primary means of communication, our secret ‘twin language’ And it is true, many a helpless bystander have been witness to what they can only later (after they get over the initial shock) describe as pure ruthlessness as we repeatedly attempt to verbally destroy the other over and over again. But this fails to account for the simple fact that we can’t take each other seriously. Ever. So we are forever engaged in this battle of emotional chicken. Who can be the meanest, who can inflict the most pain? Who can go the longest without speaking to the other? Until finally, enough is enough. Something has got to give. And I think it is this, what comes after that is of real importance. The smirk of the lips or the lift of an eyebrow, a stupid voice or a funny face and then it’s over. We fall, descend into a pile of crumpled bodies, howling with what looks like physical pain. She laughs. I laugh. We laugh. We laugh so hard we can no longer speak. We laugh so hard we cannot move. We laugh so hard we scream out loud that we are going to pee our pants. And then we forgive each other (though we never forget- another story). And thus is the cycle of our relationship with one another. This has been going on years, since we were babies. Our mother tells us that when we were babies we used to explode into a room, we could be fighting or laughing, but it would always end with laughing. So I think that this is our secret twin language, not the fighting, nor the challenge, but the jokes and the laughter. Because like when we were babies, it doesn’t matter who else is around, where we are, or what we are doing, we will make each other laugh until we cry real tears and only we are going to be in on the joke.
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