A Celebrated Twin

Today is our mother's birthday, we value her for the sacrifices she made for us and the love she has always shown. she remains an oasis of calm even in troubled times and we say Happy Birthday mother! I am in Kent to celebrate with her, the house where am staying, my bother's home, brings back so many memories as this was where my twin spent her final weeks before going into hospital.

An old friend of mine Rev. Rach, an Anglican Vicar told be about an article in this week's Radio Times (radio times.com) written by Olivia Lichtenstein titled 'The lost twins of the Twin Towers', pages 24-6. It is the tale of the heart-rending stories of the 46 people who lost "their other half" on 9/11. She thought I might find it helpful, needless to say I bought an edition of the magazine at Victoria Train Station yesterday and read the article on the way to Kent. And yes I found it very helpful.

It is reassuring to know I am not the only one going through this experience and that it is real and not a particular indulgence of mine. The programme based on it will be shown on television, BBC1 at 10.35pm on Tuesday the 6th of September.

The article makes some interesting points, do you know for instance that ultrasound scans show the interaction between twins occurs as early as 14 weeks in the utero, with foetuses stroking and nuzzling each other and occasionally even fighting, proving that their relationship is well under way before they draw their first breath of air. It quotes earlier:

"There's something that happens when you spend nine months in a womb with someone that sets you apart from anybody else for the rest of your life."

I hope your reading the article, or the quotes I have drawn upon from it will enable you understand what other twins and I must be going through at a time such as this. For most times as Lisa DeRienzo, a former undercover vice and narcotics officer.....says that theirs is a loss that has gone largely unacknowledged.

"It was shocking to see how many other twins were affected,"

she says.

"I don't want to take it away from anybody who had a sibling, or anybody else that had kids, but you never hear they were a twin. And I think people need to know that we're special too."

I thank God that in all these I have him and through him, he is helping me to recover to celebrate the memory of my twin but to help others in a similar position. Folashade I miss you but continue to celebrate your life!