After so long apart, living in different cultures, you might expect that there would be a lot of differences between Belle & Dorothy. This is not the case at all and it was obvious after just a few hours together that their characters and the way they did most things were the same.

We have come to the conclusion that identical twins who grow up together are affected by being together and they may adopt different ways of doing things and even different personalities in order to be recognised as being separate from each other.

In this case the girls grew up without each other so there was no need for their characters to deviate from what they would naturally become. This probably accounts for many of their similarities.

They are mirror twins, which means that when they look at each other what is on the right side of one (like a mole etc.) will appear on the left side of the other.

In most cases, where there are some differences, we have found that what is lacking on one side is present on the other and vice-versa.

There is no way to prove this but it seems as though identical twins have the same soul - the same life force - after all for about the first eight days of their development they were one and the same, this has to account for a lot of the habitual similarities.

Following are some of the similarities we have discovered to date:

Both adoptive fathers died while the girls were still children.
Both mothers were Red Cross nurses.
Both their mothers died in tragic circumstances.
Both only received a necklace as a keepsake but would have preferred a pendant.
Both get left and right directions mixed up.
Both get the words of popular sayings mixed up.
Both are left handed even though we are pretty sure that they are mirror twins.
Both have the favourite colour of blue but both prefer to wear pinks.
Both eat food very slowly.
Both eat certain types of food (Ie. Crab - see above) in exactly the same way.
Both are very outgoing, talkative and sociable.
They have similar taste in music.
They like the same sort of foods.
Both are very emotional but Belle, unlike Dorothy, does not keep it inside.
Both show a natural artistic talent.
Both have a kind of OCD.
Both see the need to always try and justify their actions to others.
Both drink very little alcohol.

Both brush their teeth exactly the same way.
Neither smoke.
Both like to sing.
Both like to fish.

Both are 'spatially challenged' Ie. They bump their knees, shins, elbows, heads etc. time and again in the same way.
Both like similar television programmes.
Both started wearing eye glasses at the age of nine and both used contact lenses for a while in their 20s before going back to glasses.
Both suffer from motion sickness and get ill if over stressed.

Both are excellent cooks.

Their thoughts on many things are so similar that they often know what the other is thinking.

Quite often they will say the same thing at the same time.
 

Now what about the differences?

Belle likes to wear bright colours, Dorothy likes pastels.
Belle wears much more makeup.
Belle also wears many different perfumes.
Belle and Dorothy may both love food but Belle is a lot more fussy about what she will eat.
Their hair styles are markedly different.
Their hand writing is not all that similar but they can easily imitate the others writing if they try.
Dorothy has had children and Belle has not.
Dorothy is quite religious and Belle is not.
Dorothy is much more computer literate. (Belle positively hates computers.)
Each kicks with a different foot.
Their facial expressions are different except when they smile.
Belle is not a ‘spur of the moment’ person but Dorothy is.

They wear their handbags on opposite shoulder.

They sleep on opposite sides of the bed.

They wear their watches on opposite hands.

Dorothy is more mischievous and Belle more reserved.

Dorothy seems to be able to adapt to changing circumstances more easily.

You would expect that as mirror twins that one would be right handed and the other left handed but one explanation for this may be that Belle was made to use her left hand by her father. This seems like an odd thing to happen but she remembers being told that this occurred.