By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Bluffton has its fair share of twins. In the '90s, there were three sets of twins in Bluffton schools. One of these sets were two of my best friends, Theresa and Natasha Meyer. Starting with them, I set out to track down some Bluffton twins.
We all graduated from Bluffton HS in 2000. I managed to catch up with them recently for a quick chat.
Interview with Natasha Decker and Theresa Conley
Natasha (Meyer) Decker and Theresa (Meyer) Conley are the daughters of Basil and Rosemary Meyer (Bluffton). They are fraternal twins.
So what are you two up to now?
Natasha: I live in Delaware, Ohio (because one state is not enough for us) with my husband and two kids.
Theresa: I live two hours away from Tasha (one hour from Bluffton) in Antwerp, Ohio with my husband and four kids.
Name one good thing about being a twin. What's the downside?
Natasha: It is nice to have someone who has the same frame of reference from our childhood.
Theresa: The best thing was always having someone to play with growing up. It was frustrating when people wouldn’t even try to tell us apart. We don’t even look alike.
Did you ever trick anyone or confuse your teacher into thinking you were your twin?
Natasha: No, but at least one teacher refused to even try to tell us apart.
Theresa: No. We didn’t look enough alike. In fact, we were often trying to be seen as individuals, rather than “one of the twins.”
Are there other twins in your family?
Natasha: Plenty. Fraternal twins run in our Mom’s side of the family and there are lots of twins."
Theresa: Yes... cousins.
Do you believe in the whole "twin connection" thing, where you can read each other's minds or communicate from far away?
Natasha: No.
Theresa: Not really. We are very good at the “Remember that guy that one time” communication, but only because we have so many shared experiences.
To test the "twin connection" theory, I asked both twins five basic questions about each other. For example, I asked "What is your favorite color?" and they each had to answer for themselves but also guess what their twin's answer would be.
The questions were about their favorite movie, what their dream job would be, and their strongest dislike. I also asked what was their funniest memory of growing up being a twin (but this one stumped all of my test subjects). One twin got two out of five correct; the other none.
These results leads me to believe that twins are just people - they may share an incredible bond, but they do not have superpowers. And twins would be the first to say they are each individuals; not that people listen.
When there are only 33 twins in every 1,000 people, twins are something of a phenomenon that just intrigues people.
However, what twins are really good at is that secret knowledge or language. Statistics say 40% of twins have their own language that only they understand - a kind of "twinglish."
Rosemary Meyer, mother of Theresa and Natasha, said: "They had a twin language. Before they learned to speak, they could speak to each other. One of their brothers picked up on one of the words, and used it, and when the twins heard it, they burst out crying."
Twins do share a special bond - first off, they shared the womb, and probably ended up sharing everything else from beds and toys to loads of life experiences.
Theresa said, "I have always loved being a twin, and we are still very close even though we don’t live close. We still share the same close friends group.
"I especially love that we have kids the same ages. But I don’t think we fit the typical twin mold. We always wanted to be seen as individuals. One year, when we were in high school, we went to the famous Twin Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio.
"It was so bizarre for us because everyone there was trying to look as much alike and act as much alike as possible. Although we loved each other and loved to hang out together, we never felt (or at least I didn’t) the need to become like each other."
Did you know:
• 3 % of the U.S. population are twins (based on statistics from 2016).
• Twins can either be identical or fraternal.
• Fraternal twins occur when two eggs leave the ovary and get fertilized by different sperm, at the same time.
• Identical twins occur when one egg gets fertilized and then splits into two.
• Twins do not have matching fingerprints or DNA. Fraternal twins can be genetic, and passed down the female line, but not identical twins.
I was best friends with Natasha and Theresa Meyer since second or third grade. Here's a few things I learned by being best friends with twins:
• It's important to know who is older (Natasha, by 5 minutes)
• Do not ever give them both the same present(s) for birthdays/Christmases, because it's not very original and you'll make them both mad
• You can't invite just one of them, unless it's clearly something only one of them is interested in
• There's very little room for exclusivity with twins. (Both were bridesmaids in my wedding.)
Stay tuned next when the Icon interviews twins Jordan and Braden Skilliter.
If you are a twin and would like to be interviewed, please contact us at: [email protected]
Additional sources used for this article:
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/276017/us-twin-birth-rate/
• "12 things you never knew about being a twin" from Insider; http://www.thisisinsider.com/what-is-it-like-to-be-a-twin-2017-4
• https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=twinglish
