Skip to content Skip to footer

Crossing paths

There’s a person — a guy, my age-ish, married with kids, nice-looking, smart, dry humor — whom I run into a lot. We have an “Oh, hey, nice to see you,” micro-conversation relationship where we might talk for 5 or 10 minutes when we cross paths, share some interesting info (or not) and that’s it.

Except I have run into him / crossed paths with him probably more than anyone else I can think of in the last couple-few decades, and, yes, he lives in the Columbia-ish area, as do I, so there’s that. But lots of people live in this area whom I know but don’t see or find along my out-of-the-house journeys.

Earlier today, I went with mother to the local mall. She is a frequent mall-walker and goes many an early morning before the mall stores open, but today she decided to walk amidst holiday shoppers, in the early afternoon, she asked me to join her, and I said, “Sure.”

Now, I haven’t been to the mall in quite a few months: late June was the last time I was there.

It was crowded but not crazy. We walked the upper level. Then we started to walk on the lower level. As we continued on, I saw someone ahead and my brain said, “The Guy I See Often’s name,” but my eyes said, “No, that’s not him.”

Then we went around a little bend and 10-15 yards in front of me was The Guy I See Often and his wife. We stopped. Said quick hellos. And I told him what had just happened in my mind.

It has been uncanny and interestingly frequent how often the two of us cross paths. For as little-little-little as I have been out of the house, particularly this last half-year or so as I’ve been moving and tending to many-many-many move-related things, I find the one time I head to the mall, he’s not only there at the same time, but we actually were at the same place at the same time, *and* saw each other.

Leave a comment