Do you ever feel like there are only so many faces and personalities in the world? Like, there are platonic forms of people or something? Somewhere around college-aged, I started to feel like every new person I met reminded me exactly of someone I already knew. I have had the good fortune to meet a lot of different people, but it seems there are only about fifty actual people in the world, and they each have fifty variations.
If I can't figure out who someone reminds me of, it bugs the bejesus out of me until I can place them. It's like not being able to remember a word that's on the tip of your tongue.
Just this last weekend, I was doing a wedding. The best man was delayed in Milwaukee and wasn't able to make it to the rehearsal. So, when I met him just before the wedding on Saturday, he immediately struck me. It was John Hodges, a guy I'd been to Divinity School with. Only it wasn't John Hodges, it was Robert Glaubius. Robert Glaubius = John Hodges. Of course, I don't know either of them well enough to identify them completely as one person. But the aura they gave off: the way they looked, talked, smiled . . . it seemed awfully similar.
Just another day inside my strange thoughts!
2 comments:
I feel this way all the time. It makes me nervous, because I end up being way too familiar with people I just met, and ascribing histories and traits to them from the 3 people I've known before who are just like them. It took me several years to get to know Julie Phenis, because I kept thinking she was exactly the same person as my high school best friend, Danielle Stella.
Totally! It colors my interactions with people who deserve their own chance. Kind of like how I couldn't possibly name my child the same name as someone who bothered me. The kid would never have a fighting chance.
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