I’ve always lived a life of competition. It was “in the cards” when God decided to make me a twin. It wasn’t something we looked for or hoped for or even desired. Thinner. Prettier. Funnier. More outgoing. Smarter. It was a daily thing and each of us both despised it and somehow, maybe unknowingly, cheered it on. But in the end, all I wanted was a best friend. She looks just like me. Laughs and talks a bit like me. We make heads turn and we make people stare. I love it. She is my identical twin, Cori Lynne Nardello Ashton. My best friend at heart and the genes of my genes. I love her more than she’ll ever know and I am in awe of the person she is. She just graduated with her Masters in Public Administration. But she didn’t just graduate. She took the class by storm in Cori fashion and took it personally. She did the best on every paper, finest on every exam. Not to beat those in her class. But to prove to each and every person she has ever known that she, Cori Nardello Ashton CAN. And she did. She recently said to me she wanted the astricks in front of her name, like people got in our undergraduate program. I asked, “did I get an asterick??” and she calmly stated, “NO, you’d KNOW if you got an asterick in front of your name!” So she held nothing back. She missed weekends playing with her then 3 year old for 3 long years. Alex is 6 now and just graduated from Kindergarten and at her party she both thanked and apologized to him for having missed so much to become so much for both their benefit. It was moving. And I’m impressed with the amount of effort my twin sister applied to complete this amazing task. She earned her asterick by earning the top award in her class, being placed on the Dean’s list and she earned a summa cum laude award with highest honors. And I’m not feeling competitive, only proud of my sister. And happy she reached her goals and fulfilled her dreams. Congratulations, Cori!
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