Chasing ghosts, looking for angels
Do you ever go into a public place and think you'll find someone you know? I do! That's me! I'm that guy!
Whenever I go into the two suburban cities where I grew up, I'm always looking for someone. It could be at the grocery store, a restaurant or even the train station, I'm on the lookout for familiar. It rarely occurs that I know anyone, but that never stops me from looking around. I'm pretty sure this behavior is annoying because I see the look on the faces of the people I'm with (one in particular) when I doing this, but that doesn't stop my search.
It's even worse when I'm alone because I'll go out of my way to people hunt....usually with the same results.
Like I said, it's rare when it happens, but I do occasionally find someone. I recently ran into cousins at a restaurant. I also ran into former classmates at the grocery store and the library. When this happens, it just makes me kick up this behavior up a notch or two...or ten. Hmmm....maybe I need some help with this, but really, who does it hurt?
That brings us to last weekend. I have a few hours of free time, so I spent it doing a walking tour of a north suburban downtown area. First stop is the grocery store. Maybe I'll grab some lunch? Ummm....I'm not fooling anyone...I'm there to people watch.
Aisle one, I see a woman from behind. She looks like a friend from school. As I moved to get a closer look, I realized it couldn't be her. She hadn't lived in the area for decades. I then realized that it couldn't be her because she died more than five years ago.
Chasing ghosts?
I moved on to another aisle. There's another woman I may know, although I only get a view of her from the side. Same hairstyle as my former classmate. She also had still lived in this suburb. I then realized it also couldn't be her because she died a couple of years ago.
Chasing ghosts?
After seeing, or not seeing these two, I figured I better get the Hell out of town before I start creeping myself out....or maybe it was too late for that.
After a ghost acquaintance free Saturday, we move onto Sunday. We're sitting in a restaurant in a city in which I have no previous connection. Chances of finding anyone I know are very slim. I look at a couple in the booth directly across from our table. There's a woman who is the doppelganger of a childhood friend. I stared her down for a few moments but then realized it couldn't be her. She died more than a decade ago.
Chasing ghosts?
I don't know what any of this means. Maybe it's as simple as looking for a familiar face. Maybe it's as complex as trying to find out what the afterlife really brings. It's probably somewhere in between those two extremes. Who really knows, right? RIGHT?! I'm thinking it's most likely a coincidence that the last three folks that I thought I might know are all dead.
But yanno...maybe I really am chasing ghosts and it turned out that in my search, I found angels. Nothing wrong with that.
Related Post: I'm never going back to my old school
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