Today is one of my twin girls' half birthday.

How is that possible?

Forever they will share their birthday, but their half birthdays? They each have their own.

I grew up in the middle of three girls and we used to pretend we were triplets, or break off as twins.

I guess I never thought I’d eventually give birth to them.

When my twins were born, I was in awe of their beauty and their energy, but I was also thinking something like "how the &*^% am I gonna manage two of everything in my shoebox apartment and with no experience in parenting??"

Two mouths to feed, two cries to tend to, two smiles to melt over, and two different milestone moments to celebrate (show me a set of twins that stood up or walked or talked on the very same day!!).

But I always told them - I have two eyes, two ears, two hands and even two boobs to feed…just so they would each feel like they got their own thing.

Regardless of my efforts at fairness, however, or my attempts at giving them individual time with me, my twins have to share A LOT.

Thankfully, one liked avocado and one didn’t, but for the most part, they ate the same meals at the same time in the same place. They had the same vacations, the same babysitter, the same bedtime, the same focus at school, the same everything.

This is not unlike having mixed-age siblings, I can say have been the (vegan) meat in my own sister sandwich.

But twins are different. They even share a birthday.

So when they were about 3 years old, I remember my discovery that they could have their own half birthday.

It just so happens that there is no September 31st. So their March 31st birthday meant that they could each have their own halfway celebration - September 30 and October 1.

(They were almost born a day later, by the way, twins on April Fool’s Day, but that would have been another email…)

Maddie embraced September 30 as her own, being that she’s the oldest.

By 2 minutes.

Sydney took on October 1st as her solo special day.

And at 16 1/2 today, we continue this tradition.

Not only is it an excuse to eat cake for breakfast (which is worth it in and of itself), half birthdays are a great reminder of the passing of time.

When they were born 16 1/2 years ago yesterday/today, someone gave me a card that read:

The days are long but the years are short.

It felt cliché to me at the time, but I must have placed that notion somewhere in my brain to pull up for you now, believing it to be one of the most profound statements I’ve yet to read.

Read it again: They days are long, but the years are short.

The routines of the day can be mundane and the constant work we do as parents can make 24 hours feel like 47…and there’s still barely time to brush our teeth.

But somewhere along the way to your baby becoming a teenager you stop and realize that yes, the days can feel long. And hard. And exhausting.

But the years?

They are just too short.

Seize them.

With fierce love,
Alison