My sister and I are identical twins. We did everything together until college, when we set out to find our own identities.

Courtesy of the author

• I was known for being an identical twin, and that shaped my identity.
• We lived in a small town in Iowa, and no one could tell us apart.
• My husband's best friend is a triplet, so he understood that my sister and I were not the same person.

Being an identical twin shaped my identity in childhood. From the very beginning, it was what I was known for. I can't recall one picture of me without Rebekah.

The story I heard most often was of our birth.