If you happen to have a twin, things can go either one of two ways: Life can be a zany twist of transcontinental adventures a la The Parent Trap or as painfully disturbing as Dead Ringers... or so we think.
It turns out things lie somewhere in the middle (booooo!) and that formed the basis of today's burning question from Redditor xerodeficit, who asked the online community: "Twins of Reddit, what is your favorite 'wrong twin' story?"
"My brother is blind."
My brother is blind. My wife took him to run some errands and they stopped at the pharmacy I use to get some CBD oil. He'd never been there before but they all know me by name. They walk in and the workers saw him with his cane and sunglasses and said "Ha, you look like that kid from A Christmas Story who had his mouth washed out with soap and went blind!"
His reaction: "I'm not Steve, I'm Mike. And I am blind."
My wife said the color drained from their collective faces.
Fortunately he has a great sense of humor about it. It made my next trip there pretty fun.
"My family regularly..."
My family regularly called me by my twin brother's name - which wasn't a big deal until he died in a car wreck.
Almost 20 years ago.
Still happens.
I usually reply with "I'm the alive one."
"I was in high school..."
I was in high school when a teacher saw me and started yelling at me for being late to class, turns out it was my brother's teacher but the teacher did not believe me and sent me the principal.
"My mom is a twin..."
My mom is a twin and one day when I was like 8 she picked me up from school and i thought she was my aunt. I stayed suspicious for the rest of the day.
"Was standing in a..."
Was standing in a classroom, back to the door, when my twin's girlfriend came up, stood next to me, and put my hand on her ass.
We were both apologizing to each other for like three days and never told my brother. So I guess this isn't my favorite moment but I think it's a funny story.
"We were 18..."
GiphyWe were 18, and my twin got a job at the same grocery store where I already worked. Many times we were both at work together and just due to the workflow one of us would start working with a customer and then get called away, if the customer didn't notice- they'd continue the conversation with Twin B as if twin A never left.
Years later we were still living in the same area and the main road through town had most of the businesses in town. Our parents colleagues from work would often see one of us at work and then the other somewhere else- and assume we were the same person. So their friends would always tell them how hard their son worked not realizing there were 2 of us - so we were often in 2 places at the same time.
"My twin sister..."
My twin sister went to go wake up my boyfriend instead of me. I was doing something so I asked her too. Normally when she would wake him up she was a dick about it. Loud, flickering lights etc, this time she was very calm and nice about it. She walked in, shook him awake. But him, thinking it was me started to rub her thigh. She screamed "wrong twin" and ran out of the room.
Another,
My twin was walking around the school hallways and had one of my friends come up to her, thinking it was me and slapped her. My sister had no clue what was going on.
When I was younger..."
When I was younger my mom was upset with my brother and she was planning on slapping him but she found me instead and next thing you know I'm balling my eyes out because here I am, minding my own business and I get slapped for absolutely no reason. My mom started crying after she realized what she'd done.
"When we were younger..."
When we were younger (like 13-14), we had a big family dinner. It was a while since everybody saw each other and everyone was happy. Now, my brother can't stand pepper, I don't know why, but he always hated it. We both ordered a pasta carbonara, mine with pepper his without. Of course the waiter accidentally switched plates and my brother, which was really hungry, started devouring them as fast as he could.
When the pepper kicked in he already ate like a half of the pasta. He was so disgusted that he just put his fingers in his throat and threw up everything on the table. He destroyed everybody's meal and our aunt's dress who was in front of him. Our parents got so angry, but I never laughed that hard in my entire life.
"My brother Dennis..."
My brother Dennis had a girl really sweet on him in grade 7/8. She moved away before high school. Four years later I was with a girl I just started dating at the movies. Standing in line for popcorn when a hand starts caressing my butt. Startled because I didn't think my date and I had progressed that far, I kind of leaned into it. The next thing I know she's nuzzling my ear with her hand still gripping my @ss. I started to lean into her lips by turning my head, and I see my date standing 10' away with a horrified look on her face.
What a cluster f**k that was.
I lost my date but my brother got hooked up with the old sweety.
We had several adventures as teens, including him writing a test for me and taking a medical for a job interview.
"In primary school..."
In primary school I walked into my own classroom (we were in separate classrooms) and a girl in my class thought we had finally done a swap to confuse the teachers.
Nope, just me!
"I'm a twin..."
GiphyI'm a twin.
In elementary school (3rd grade) during lunch time my sister's class always ate lunch before mine. So I'd always be a good 10-15 minutes behind her class when it came to lunch. So the only time we were in the cafeteria at the same time was for a total of 15 minutes. However one day my class was running behind for lunch, which meant my sister's class was getting ready to leave the cafeteria.
So that day I'm lined up with my class in the lunch line waiting just outside the food pick up area. When this boy from my sister's class walks up to me, calls me by my sister's name and proceeds to drag me out of line towards the cafeteria exit. He says "(sister's name) you already got lunch, why are you in the line again?"
See one thing to know is that between me and my sister I'm the timid and shy one. So I didn't like cutting people off when they are speaking or just speaking in general. So I never really got a chance to tell him that he in fact has the wrong twin because he kept running his mouth. (At this point were standing at the door waiting on my sister's teacher) couple minutes later it wasn't until my sister came out the bathroom said a quick "Hey (my name)" that the boy realized that he grabbed the wrong twin.
"Long distance girlfriend..."
Long distance girlfriend (now wife) had a cousin who went to the same college as me. She saw my twin brother on a date with his girlfriend at the time. She took pictures on her cell and sent it around to the family saying I was cheating on her. Took a long time for them to buy the "I have an identical twin" argument.
"When my twins were about 4..."
When my twins were about 4, at summer camp one day after swimming they put on each others' clothes including shoes. They spent the second half of the day pretending to be each other. When I picked them up at the end of the day they got in the car and I just looked at them for a moment, then said, "guys? . . ." and they BURST out laughing and couldn't stop for a long time.
"When coworkers..."
When coworkers still mixed us up even though I had a beard and he didn't.
Then again, I thought me getting glasses in kindergarten would stop people mixing us up, but they still did. Then he got glasses in elementary school, too, so there went that.
"In high school..."
In high school one of my twin brother's teachers said hello to me and tried to grab my arm to speak to me about something probably class related. I didn't know who it was as I had never taken her class and walked off quickly and kind of weirded out.
Later she berated my brother in class in front of everyone for being so rude to her. He told her it was probably his twin brother and she didn't believe him. Everyone else in the class told her that he did have a twin brother, to corroborate his claim, but she refused to believe any of them.
"At school, my brother and I..."
At school, my brother and I switched classes as my teacher was old. We got away with it until some brat told the teacher. The after result: lots of laughter at home when we got suspended for 3 days.
"It's around 11 pm..."
Identical twin girls, we both wear glasses, but I'm straight and she's gay. This is important because I have super long hair, pretty girly, wear make-up, etc. My twin is the complete opposite, super short hair, imagine Brendon Urie hair, wears guy clothes/semi baggy, and wouldn't wear makeup if you paid her to do so. So my twin had been working at Taco Bell for probably like 4 months or so. We'll call my twin phlo cause thats what they nicknamed her. (My twin has a super unique and hard to spell name.) Majority of them knew she had a twin through social media or from high school.
It's around 11 pm, my twin isn't working and I decide I want some Taco Bell. I give my order pull up to the window, a girl sees and starts to bring me bring me my food. "Oh hey Phlo." She gives me a confused head tilt/stare, looked at her co-worker, back at me and gives a nervous giggle as she close the window. I hear her say "OMG IDK who that is." A couple other people tried to very "nonchalantly" come see what she means. I just kind of awkwardly wave still trying to pay for my food. After about 5 minutes of no one coming back to the window or counter, I just left. So hey I got free food because of my twin. The next day my twin texts me asking why I freaked out so many of her co-workers. lol I guess some people cant handle the thought of twins.
"Apparently..."
Apparently my brother won a pole dancing competition in New Orleans during pride. A lot of gay dudes were just saying I was awesome. Haha I was soooooooooo confused
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.