Being a twin brings undeniable challenges, some more strenuous than others. The most painful challenge is the decision to leave each other after high school.

We’ve done everything together. We go to football games, stores, and basketball practice together. You name it, we go together. And if by some miracle we don’t go together, we still have our best friends or the rest of our family. So, what will it feel like when we no longer have each other?

In the past couple of years, we’ve talked and decided that we have no interest in going to the same college next year. She wants to play basketball, I want to be a nurse. Knowing what we want to do next year has never been so problematic. Finding a school that has both good basketball and nursing programs is a bit challenging. For some this might seem surprising, but contrary to popular belief, twins don’t have to go to the same college. Bear in mind that we have been doing basically everything together for 18 years, so it might finally be time to branch away and be our own selves.

What will it feel like? I’m asking you because truly I don’t know.

We are different people. People seem to forget that. Being twins we are always categorized as “the girls” or “the Yobs,” with me as the more outgoing, girly twin, while Kenzie is the athletic, funny one. We understand that we are compared constantly walking down the halls, and we will no doubt be compared for the rest of our lives. The feeling of not waking up in the morning and immediately walking into Kenzie’s room to make sure that we aren’t wearing the same thing or the feeling of not having Mackenzie’s annoying voice as my secondary alarm clock in the morning, will disappear. A change will transpire after we graduate, a change that no matter how we prepare for it, it doesn’t matter if we are ready for it or not.

Like I said earlier, my twin sister Mackenzie will most likely be playing basketball at the collegiate level next year and is looking at colleges all over the country. One college that happens to be at the top of the list is Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, which is a mere seven hours away. I’m looking at places like Aquinas College which is a booming 15 minutes away from my house. The differences are indescribable and I’m straightforward enough to say that knowing that my sister is 7 hours away is a little traumatizing.  

Kenzie and I are seniors this year and we are super excited to be a part of the legendary Sick One Six. But as senior year continues to go by, I can’t help but wondering what happens to the Yob twins next. We will no longer be the plural “Yobs” but instead the single Yob.

A change is coming for the “Yobs.” It’s not only leaving home but also leaving our other half, the person that has been there and understood us for 18 years. Although these times are scary, I’m excited for Kenzie and I’s next chapter, a chapter where we can branch out, a time where we are a single person and not just a plural subject.