As the two dads chatted in the used book
sale line, they realized, astoundingly, that they were both the parents of
triplets who were entering their freshman year at Bishop O’Connell High School
in Arlington. What was even more surprising is that they weren’t the only ones.
O’Connell’s Class of 2019 has three sets of triplets: Blaise, Skye and Rory
Hartsoe; Paul, Henry and Ruth Lewarne; and Brendan, Maura and Kyle Leverone.
Once at O’Connell, it wasn’t long before
they all met one another. “Our parents force introduced us at the first
football game,” said Kyle. “It was really weird.” The teenagers laughed
recalling the awkwardness of the situation. They were the only triplets at
their respective grade schools, but occasionally had classmates who were twins.
“We would always one up them,” said Paul. Oh, you’re twins? "That’s cute.”
Though their first meeting was a little
uncomfortable, the seniors realized they do have many unusual shared
experiences, such as people constantly being wowed by their existence.
“Cashiers in the grocery store get so
into it,” said Skye.
But all the triplets are fraternal, and
occasionally their dissimilar appearances make people doubt that they’re
triplets. “People don’t believe us,” said Skye. “At restaurants when we’re
like, ‘Oh it’s the triplets’ birthday,’ they’ll be like, ‘OK, it’s not all
three of your birthdays.’ ”
All nine agreed that being a triplet
means having two built-in best friends. It means there’s always a triplet who
managed to bring home the right textbook for homework, and someone to cover
your shift at the Italian Store. It means being stuck together, and sometimes getting
lumped together in frustrating ways. The Hartsoes were once offered one chair
for the three of them; the Lewarnes once received one collective award made
from a paper plate at the end of a swim team season.
Being part of a triplet also means
answering to a lot of curious strangers. “The dumbest question that I’ve ever
gotten, multiple times I’ve gotten this question — can you (use) telepathy?”
said Henry. “No, that’s not possible.” They don’t feel each other’s pain, and
usually have no idea how their sister is coming along with that essay, either.
But they are undeniably close. Sometimes, too close.
“A bad thing for me is, if you’re the
only person in your grade, you kind of have your secrets in school, just your
friends,” said Brendan. “But with your two other siblings in the same grade
with similar friends, they know everything.”
“They’re always trying to get in your
business,” said Henry. “My business is my business.”
While they all have individual interests,
they naturally became involved in each other’s hobbies and became friends with
their triplets’ friends.
After Paul joined cross-country, Henry
joined the next year and Ruth the year after that. “I started a following,”
said Paul.
During their senior year, Brendan and
Kyle played golf together, Brendan and Maura both play basketball and all three
were involved in student government. “I live and breathe sports because I’m
around two brothers,” said Maura.
When the seniors were younger, their
shared activities weren’t always voluntary. “Especially because we’re all
girls, we all did ballet and then we all did gymnastics and we all did Girl
Scouts,” said Blaise.
“My mom wouldn’t take us somewhere if
all three of us couldn’t go,” said Skye.
The triplets do have other siblings. The
Hartsoes have an older brother and sister and one younger brother. The
Leverones have an older sister. The Lewarnes have a younger brother.
Though their triplet-ness is noteworthy,
each of the nine students is impressive in his or her own right, with laundry
lists of clubs, sports and leaderships positions to their names. Blaise focused
her Girl Scout Gold Award project on mental health and will attend Emory
University in Oxford, Ga. Skye started a musical tutoring program for elementary
school children and will attend Georgetown University in Washington. Rory
enjoys crafting for those in need, including knitting dozens of hats for
newborn babies, and will attend Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
Brendan, who will attend Villanova University
in Villanova, Pa., was part of the basketball team and club, that taught basketball
basics to students with special needs. His brother, Kyle, played hockey and
golf, and will attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Maura will play
basketball at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
Henry, like Paul, is an Eagle Scout and will
attend Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Paul helped run the charitable
fundraiser Superdance and will attend Virginia Commonwealth University in
Richmond. Ruth has served on mission trips, including a trip to Peru with
fellow O’Connell students, and plans to attend Franciscan University of
Steubenville, Ohio.
After 18 years of close proximity, all
the triplets are going to different schools. They said they weren’t purposely
trying to get away from each other, but they didn’t try to stay together,
either. Still, it’s hard for them to imagine what next year will bring.
“I was thinking the other day, we
sometimes go to lunch together and we were driving around, (and I thought) this
is the last year we get to do that,” said Ruth. “It’s so weird.”
“We’re going to think about it later and
think, there was a time when we only knew all being together,” said Skye.
“The good thing is you always have two
best friends, no matter what,” said Brendan. “We’re going to different colleges,
but (we’ll) always stay in touch.”