Friday, March 06, 2009

Seeing Strangers

Have you ever run across someone while out and about and something akin to the following takes place...: You to Stranger: "Um...I'm trying to figure out why you look so familiar to me. Could I know you from somewhere?" Stranger to You: "Well, you look a bit familiar, too, but I don't know." You to Stranger: "Do you go to church in [town]?" Stranger to You: "Actually, I'm from [...another city north east of here...] and have only been in [town] for a month or so." You to Stranger: "Oh...where are you from?" Stranger to You: "[...another city north east of here...]" You to Stranger: "Well we may have figured out the mystery then - do you possibly know...?" And then you continue naming names of your Hubby's family and, though this person admits being distantly related to some of these people, does not seem to know them. So the mystery is not explained after all. Then, you find Hubby a couple of aisles away and drag him, almost bodily, to meet this stranger, too! They talk and, again, though there are a lot of similar existences - they've been orbiting around one another but never met - they don't know one another. Strange. Why do we see someone and automatically go, "Hey! I know that guy!" Why do we see someone, think, "Hey, I know that guy!" and then go talk to that guy! (Or woman...whomever?) Is this insane or human nature? Why do some people just look familiar? Feel familiar? Seem familiar? But you don't really know them at all? You could swear you've had a conversation with this person at least once before in your life...but no...apparently not. I'm baffled. Befuddled. And other words that begin with "B"... **** Oh, and on a completely different note - I've decided that, while baking mix-from-a-box-cupcakes is not difficult, the icing part is really awful. I have no talent for it, consequently, I have no love for it. I was going to try a new recipe (sent to me by the lovely and extremely talented Karrie @ Paprika's Perch) but I didn't have the guts to try out a new recipe on unsuspecting friends and family...lest I unknowingly poison them by having done something supremely stupid during the assembly and mixing process. (Remember, I'm probably one of the world's most accident-prone people so I wouldn't put it past me to grab the salt instead of the sugar! Or...something much worse.) TTFN JMS (What's with the crazy posting lately? Either I struggle to write every day or things just come out and there's no stopping them... Wonder which one I like better?)

4 comments:

AKay said...

I really despise frosting cupcakes too, so I finally gave in and bought one of the little Betty Crocker icing sets (a bag with tips).
It's great and makes it sooooo much easier!

Anonymous said...

Since the stranger admitted to being distantly related to some of your husband's family, it's possible that you see that family resemblance in him, at least enough so that he looks familiar to you. Makes sense to me! And yes, it's happened to me often, that I meet someone who seems familiar to me, but turns out to be from another town, only been there a short time.. yada yada. The fact that this person turned out to have some actual distant relationship is pretty amazing to me!

G. B. Miller said...

Most of the time, when I have conversations like that, it's usually because I actually know the person whose the blast from the past.

They don't remember me, but I remember them. When they have memory problems, I give them just enough obscure details to jog their memory and die of embarrassment.

Paulie said...

Just so I can be the person to get a little weird, there are theories about past lives that can play into it. One of my favorite ideas is that you saw the person somewhere in passing that your brain remembered. (I personally believe the brain never forgets anything.)Once remember you had a dream about the person that you didn't remember upon waking and that is why the person looks familiar. I like Anonymous poster's comment also.