One of Two

"When you fall in love with somebody, you create a new world, and then, if you’re lucky, you live in it." - Jean Garnett

Photo by Liza Pooor

After I met Julia, I called my brother and told him I was in trouble. That even though I’d made him swear that he’d stop me from rushing into anything romantic while still relatively new to New York, that I needed to be open to where this was going to take me.

Mostly, I wanted to share with him that I’d met someone special, because he’s someone special. My twin brother. My first best friend. My other half in some ways, a smooth complement in many others. For as long as I’ve been anything, I’ve been one of two.

The first time we went our separate ways was for college. I, to Boston. He, to Ann Arbor. It was exciting, but hard, like assuming a new identity when answering to Jack instead of Jack and Noah.

And now I’m becoming one of two again. I feel prepared, like I’ve done this before, though maybe in reverse. I came into this world as part of a pair, spent time finding myself, and now I’m learning all over again what it is to join lives.

In her essay, “Giving Away My Twin,” Jean Garnett writes of twins, “What a beautiful, comforting idea. A partnership not threatened with separation: it is what we invoke and celebrate at a wedding.”

Isn’t that hopeful? To enter into something new without fear of jeopardizing what you already have, to learn from what’s come before, and keep expanding like the universe.