Twinless Twins

What an incredible beginning. Becca and I are off on the journey of her/our 1st Twinless Twins Conference. Our journey began early on Wednesday, July 11th, leaving the house at 7:30am, heading to Silver Spring. We were headed to Mike's home, another Twinless Twin, so we could begin the drive to Columbus, Ohio, the site of the 2018 Twinless Twins. As you can see, we wanted to make sure we had everything we needed, probably plus some. Arriving at Mike's, many thoughts went thru my head. I couldn't believe we were doing this, it was spear headed by Becca. She wanted to go after Brian and I pretty much forced her to go to the regional meeting in April. 

When I first started this post, I was going to go into details of the of the conference and all the things we did. Now, as we sit in the car on our way home, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to proceed.  

This weekend was more emotional than spiritual and physical. Seeing all the twins, and yes they are all still twins, (once a twin, always a twin) was remarkable. There is a connection that singletons just don't and can't understand. The twin connection starts early on, in utero, some even say at conception, that was hard to deny this weekend. I realized that twins also bond and connect with other twins because they understand the bond they all shared with their twin. It didn't matter the age of the surviving twin, someone was able to connect with another. They gave each other "twin" hugs and they shared their individual, unique yet similar stories. Each story was  different, some were in utero/early loss, some were cancer, some were accidents (car, swimming), some were murder, some suicide and some were other medical illnesses. Some bonded over the way their twin passed, some bonded over the age they were when their twin passed, and some  bonded based on where they live, while others just bonded because they were a twinless twin. Their pain is real. Their emptiness is real. Their loneliness is real. The love they have for each other is real, they become family. Others, even the parents of the twinless twins can't understand what they are going thru. I have told Becca, many times, that I don't know what it is like to lose a sibling, especially a twin, but I do know what it is like to lose Ian. Well, the "family" friends she met this weekend, can give her something I can't and for that I am forever grateful. Becca has already made it clear we are going to the Twinless Twins conference in 2019....so Alabama you are on our calendar.