Girls insist they’re twins because they ‘have the same birthday and the same soul'

“They don’t see color," Ashley Riggs Sarnicola, Jia's mother, told ABC News.

ByABC News

November 8, 2017, 4:05 PM

 -- Good luck trying to tell these 4-year-old best friends they aren’t twins.

Jia Sarnicola and Zuri Copeland of Miami insist they’re twins because they “have the same birthday and the same soul," Jia said.

Zuri told ABC News about her love and her precious friendship with Jia.
Courtesy Ashley Riggs Sarnicola/Valencia Copeland

Jia is blonde and Caucasian, while Zuri has black hair and is African American. Their birthdays are actually two days apart -- Jia’s is June 3 and Zuri’s is June 5 -- but they celebrated together this year and share a very special bond.

Good luck trying to tell these 4-year-old best friends, Zuri Copeland and Jia Sarnicola, they aren't twins.
Courtesy Ashley Riggs Sarnicola/Valencia Copeland

The girls’ moms said they are very proud their daughters don’t notice their differences, only their similarities.

“I think that’s one of the nice things about growing up in a multicultural, melting pot city,” Jia’s mom, Ashley Riggs Sarnicola, told ABC News. “They don’t see color. We’ve never talked to them about it, period.”

Clockwise from top, Ashley Riggs Sarnicola and Valencia Copeland, mothers of Zuri Copeland and Jia Sarnicola, said they are very proud of their daughters.
Courtesy Ashley Riggs Sarnicola/Valencia Copeland

It wasn’t until a recent incident at a friend’s birthday party that Sarnicola realized Jia's unique viewpoint on their friendship.

“They were at a birthday party for a mutual friend, waiting in line to get their faces painted,” Sarnicola said. “She was telling a girl’s older sister they were twins, and the girl gave her an odd look and said, ‘You’re not twins.’ My little girl started bawling crying because she truly believes she and Zuri are twins.”

Jia Sarnicola and Valencia Copeland's birthdays are actually two days apart but they celebrated together this year and refuse to hear otherwise.
Courtesy Ashley Riggs Sarnicola/Valencia Copeland

Without missing a beat though, Jia replies, “‘You don’t know anything because we have the same birthday and the same soul,’” Sarnicola said. “When she said that, it took me aback. It was so sweet.”

Sarnicola said the girls have been inseparable since they met at school two years ago.

“They’re both little Geminis,” Sarnicola said. “They have very strong personalities and are both super outgoing, well-spoken, intelligent, and not afraid to tell you what they want. They hit it off right away.”