Sophomore Adrianna Pakes has been playing volleyball since elementary school – and through it all, she’s had one special person cheering her on.
Adrianna’s twin sister, Alanna, has Global Development Delay, meaning her brain develops at a different rate. But that difference has never dimmed Adrianna’s love for her.
For Adrianna, this has always been her normal, something she wouldn’t change for the world.
“For the longest time, I never knew that it was anything different,” said Adrianna Pakes, a COC volleyball player.
This inspired Adrianna to write “That’s My Sister”, a children’s book named after a moment when she stood up for Alanna. Through the story, she highlights the beauty of having a sister with special needs.
I just hope that they understand that just in general, when you see someone with special needs, that, like, they’re not really different,” said Pakes.
Behind me is Lee Smelser Court, where Adrianna trains and Alanna cheers her on, which captures this story’s main focus on their supportive, inseparable and overall loving sisterly bond.
“The bond between the two girls is just incredible. They love each other, they’re very connected,” said Carolyn Pakes, the mother of the two twins.
“There’s just this calmness with her, and you just sit with her. It’s just so peaceful and calm, and just being with her is my favorite place in the world,” said Pakes.
In the book, Adrianna is asked to write about the most influential person in her life. Unsure where to start, she looks back at old assignments, realizing they all connect to Alanna somehow. And in reality, that influence has always been there.
“She’s my twin sister. Even if she were normal and a regular person and all that, that wouldn’t change. She’d still be my most influential person, I think, because she’s my twin sister. We have a bond that you can’t break,” said Pakes.
