Ninety candles will stop most people in their tracks. For Byron and Guy Kinsman, it is also ninety years of never having to face the world alone.
Double the celebration
The identical twins, who live in Temecula, gathered with children and grandchildren this June to mark their 90th birthday, ABC7 reported — a celebration that, by any measure, doubled the joy. "It's really been a blessing to be able to stay together," Byron told the station.
A partnership built early
The brothers have always operated as a team. In their school days, they recall with evident delight, they divided the academic labor by talent: one handled the math exams for both of them, the other returned the favor in English and history. Whether their teachers ever caught on is, by their telling, beside the point. The shorthand between them runs deep enough that they still finish each other's sentences, and grandchildren sometimes can't tell which twin is on the phone.
The secret, such as it is
Ask the Kinsmans what carried them to 90, and neither reaches for anything grand. They speak warmly of their families, spanning several generations, and of the good fortune of having reached the milestone in good health. "We just thank the good lord that we're healthy enough to celebrate it together," Guy said at the party.
It is a simple sentiment. But said at 90, in a room full of people who carry pieces of both men forward, it lands with the full weight of a long life shared — in Temecula, with family close and the Southern California sun doing what it always does.
