When I was born, the clock showed 6:15 p.m.; three minutes after that, my identical twin sister was born. From that moment on, we never separated, until now.

When we were little girls, our parents dressed us the same way, like two drops of water. Then, we went to the same school, and our teachers and classmates confused us. Some of them sharpened their gaze and could differentiate us, but it was a difficult skill that not everyone could develop.

As I grew up with her, we asked each other to do something specific for the other many times. My twin once took a physical fitness test for me without anyone noticing. She is better than me at those kinds of things, and I have always thought it was good to take advantage of that. I remember the time she asked me to end a relationship with her boyfriend, and I did it without hesitation: I am better at verbal expression. I recall another occasion when a stranger kindly approached me on the bus, and after a minute, I figured out that he believed I was my twin, and I played the game. When I got home, I told my sister, and we both laughed for a long time.

We have formed a beautiful and close relationship; between us there are no secrets. At 30 years old, we both got married and promised not to replace each other with our husbands. A few months ago, my husband’s company transferred him to New York, and I had to leave my sister for the first time in our lives.

Yesterday, it was our birthday, the first one we did not spend together. It was a difficult celebration. I missed her, and I felt a deep emptiness in my heart because she was not there to blow out the candles by my side. However, despite the distance, I know that she is always with me; she is my other half.

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Born in 1988, in Santiago, Chile, Daniela Márquez speaks Spanish and English. She has lived in New York since August 2019, with her husband. She studies at the Hudson Park branch of the New York Public Library, where her teacher is Sandra Ham, and Sherin Hamad is the hub manager. She is an engineer, and before coming to the United States, she worked at Santiago’s subway company for six years. She loves traveling (by train if if possible), biking, and cooking.