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Saturday, November 19, 2005

People I Know

People follow me. More and more they do, traces of my past appearing where I least expect them. In line for lunch I hear someone’s voice and think it’s a former college classmate. It takes me 10 seconds to realize that’s a remote possibility, that she’s probably in a third-world country right now, carrying naked children on her hips. On the street I see a smile and think, “Is that Chris?” And then it’s not. Chris is in Indiana.

Or I meet someone at a party whose smile and eyes bear strong resemblance to a long-lost friend. And I immediately like them because of that.

It’s like the people I have met and interacted with and moved away from never leave, they just are divvied up into others. A smile there, a voice there, a certain posture and carriage there. Maybe soon everyone I see will remind me of someone else I have known, which means there would be no strangers at all. Just people I know.

Posted by Aaron on November 19, 2005 6:15 PM