You've probably heard the stories. Twins "connecting" mentally, seeing or feeling what their twin is feeling and doing other unbelievable things.

So is there any truth to this mysterious twin connection?

Do these things really happen?

I'm here to tell you it's true and they really do happen.

As a fraternal twin, I've experienced it firsthand.

I can't explain it, but I can verify it's real. My twin sister and I seem to have this connection that at times has been very strong. I recall for a period of several years when I was in my thirties, any time I would be thinking about my twin sister, she'd call me.

A thought about her would cross my mind and suddenly the phone would ring and she'd be on the other end. It was wierd.

We were never that close growing up. In fact we had a competitive relationship and we fought a lot. Not like some of those twins who are inseparable.

Perhaps this is because from a young age our parents encouraged our individuality. They didn't dress us alike, except for a few times when we were very young. They encouraged us to pursue our separate interests and become our own person.

But once we became adults we became good friends. Perhaps because we were no longer living under the same roof, going to the same school, and fighting for friends and attention from the same group or people.

And that's when the connections began to surface.

For example, we grew up with one of those last names with a capital letter smack dab in the middle: McKasson. Growing up this always complicated matters. No one ever spelled or pronounced our last name correctly and I dreamt of the day I'd get married and finally get a "regular" last name.

But that was not to be, for me or my twin sister. We both married men with "capital letter in the middle" last names!

Now that might not seem like a big deal ...

... but that's just the beginning of a connection that has manifested itself through our marriages.

After a few years, my sister divorced and remarried (SHE finally got the "regular" last name!) and another strange connection began to unfold, once again through our husbands.

Turns out our husbands were born on the same day so they too share the same birthday. Not only that, they're both left handed, they both wear glasses and they both went to the same high school.

Now, they don't look alike and they're not related (except through their marriages to us) but it's almost like they too are twins!

Pretty strange.

Yes, the twin connection is a reality. Even though my story is pretty tame, I've collected and read stories from other twins around the world and their amazing, unbelievable and unexplainable bonds.

And when you think about it, we were created together and spent nine months connected to each other and developing in our mother's womb. It would be even more strange if that connection simply disappeared once we were born.

(C) 2006 Debbie LaChusa

Debbie LaChusa

Debbie LaChusa is a marketing veteran with 20 years in the business. After 13 years in the advertising and marketing agency business, Debbie founded DLC Marketing, Inc., a marketing consulting and coaching business. Her goal? To give entrepreneurs and small business owners affordable access to the same high-level strategic marketing and advertising expertise that typically only large companies with big budgets can afford.

Debbie's commitment to making marketing expertise accessible to small business also led her to pursue speaking engagements and teaching. She has spoken at meetings and conventions across the United States and in Canada. She also is on the faculty of Wellcoaches Corporation, where she teaches wellness coach trainees around the world how to successfully market their new coaching practices.

Debbie has written and self-published two marketing workbooks, "A Step-by-Step Marketing Guide" and "A Step-by-Step Marketing Guide for Your Fitness Business" which have sold copies worldwide. Her advice is also featured in Entrepreneur Magazine's "How to Start a Personal Training Business," part of the magazine's Business Start-Up Series. And she is a contributor to the San Diego Business Journal.

Debbie created The 10stepmarketing? System to provide small business owners, coaches, consultants and other independent professionals with all the tools they need to market themselves.

This simple, step-by-step system, features an easy-to-use question-and-answer format that walks business owners through every step they need to take to develop and implement their own marketing plan designed to achieve the success they desire and deserve.

On a more personal note, Debbie LaChusa is a fraternal twin. In 2004 she launched Twin Connections, a web site that celebrates the unique and mysterious bond shared by twins. She collects twin stories and hopes to compile them into a book.