I saw you yesterday

Today I saw two familiar faces while I was at the grocery store – my friend’s mother and my father. Actually I saw my father twice. But after some seconds I realized that they were unknown to me. It was just my brain playing tricks on me.

This perception has become more frequent since I moved to Canada. Actually I don’t remember having it before. It sounds like my brain is looking for something familiar, a place to call home. Have you realized how frequently I am writing about home? 🤔 

I used to live in a city with 500 thousand habitants, but it was not difficult to meet someone close to me or a friend of mine on an ordinary day such as at a bakery or grocery store. My friendships were significant, especially because I had always lived in the same city, and built relationships since elementary school. But this post is not about my social connections in my hometown, nor the “Six degrees of separation” theory – the idea that all people on average are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. Sometimes it can be disturbing 😆 It is about recognizing some faces on the ordinary people around the world. 

I did a quick research on the internet and found some interesting curiosities and I realized that for some people it is a kind of goal or a desire – to find their lookalike. It sounds like meeting “safe” people is a kind of survival mechanism. It’s a way of keeping those I am most comfortable with around me. 

I suppose this could be, but for me, it is something else. It is a mechanism that my brain develops so that I can find someone friendly, receive a hug and listen to them say that everything will be fine.

Meanwhile, I keep building new friendships, meeting new friendly faces, and creating new memories.