Isn’t it Obvious?
Twins Lauren and Elise Seifert always have each other
Elise (right) and Lauren (left) before school starts on November 3, 2021. Clearly, they are identical twins, which they said “freaks them out” at times. “You know how everybody is curious sometimes about how they look when they’re talking to people? You never truly see that,” Lauren said. Elise added to Lauren’s statement by explaining how talking to a twin allows her to almost see how she looks when talking to people. “It’s like a mirror image.” Elise said.
November 12, 2021
While sitting in their friend’s basement Halloween night, laughing and eating popcorn, Lauren and Elise Seifert (10) are approached by their friend’s uncle who asks, “Are you two twins?” The girls, per usual, let out a small laugh and say yes. Internally they roll their eyes at the question — isn’t it obvious?
Unfortunately for the two, they attract a lot of attention in public spaces. Curious eyes track their path as if the Seiferts are aliens. After spending their whole lives with this unwelcomed attention, Lauren and Elise brush it off.
In classes, they’ve adapted to constantly being referred to with their twin’s name. Normally when they have to correct someone, it goes well, and the person apologizes, but there have been some occasions when people didn’t take the correction too nicely.
“It was in the morning and they [a teacher] were asking me about my weekend and they were like, ‘Hey Elise, how did your weekend go?’ I corrected them. I said, ‘Lauren’ and they said, ‘It doesn’t matter, whatever, like, how was your weekend?” Lauren explained, “which made me mad because all my life I’ve been grouped with Elise, and so, it’s like, that separate identity [issue].”
Luckily there aren’t many situations where the twins deal with someone that disregarding. The worst part, in their opinion, is having people not talk to them for fear of messing up their names.
“Sometimes people are afraid to be, like, ‘hey Lauren’… or say hi to me in the halls because they don’t want to mess it up, and I’m, like, just say it. So that limits the interactions [we have] because people are afraid to mess us up,” Lauren said.
Fortunately, Lauren and Elise can always rely on each other when they need to. They’ve created a bond that can’t be broken or replaced according to them.
“I can’t get rid of her, no matter how many times I tried when I was little,” Elise said, while Lauren burst into laughter.
Although they have the same friend group, Lauren and Elise’s relationship changes from person to person. They have noticed this mostly within their relationship with their older sister, Avery Seifert.
“When we were younger it was pretty hard because we used to always… like, exclude her and self-isolate…not on purpose,” Lauren said.
Elise added onto that statement and explained, “Since we knew each other so well when we were younger, it’s just, like, automatic, like you have that connection, and it’s just kind of there.”
Lauren and Elise spent their childhoods doing almost the same things together, yet they grew up to have different talents and personalities. When they were younger, they both attempted to play the piano;
Elise was the one who continued with it, and Lauren didn’t, leading them to consider Elise to be more attracted to music.
On the other hand, Lauren and Elise noticed that Lauren was the better artist. At one point in their elementary school days, there was a bookmark-making competition. Elise asked Lauren to draw her bookmark because she couldn’t. Elise actually won the competition with Lauren’s drawing, and continues to laugh about it now. Yet the twins believe that this fact is normally overlooked.
“They just automatically assume that if I’m good at writing, Lauren’s good at writing. Which, I mean, she’s not bad,” Elise said.
The girls spend most of their lives being grouped together by everyone, including themselves at times. They said that normally during class projects, or teaming up for sports, they always seem to choose each other.
“They [teammates] always assume that we’re always going to be partners… so then they don’t ask… which, I mean, it’s not bad,” Elise said.
It’s safe to say that when twins are seen in public they attract a lot of attention. Many are fascinated by the fact that two people look the same and have a habit of staring or approaching them and asking if they are twins. Which can get annoying, according to the girls.
Still, they make the most of being a twin. Throughout all of the strange comments and the overall infatuation people have towards them, Lauren and Elise have always been able to rely on each other.
“We always say it’s like a built-in best friend,” Lauren said.
