Are You Familiar with It?

One thing that has fascinated me for years is how two people can see something so differently when they look at the same thing.

As I’m older and the thought has been with me a long time, I now completely understand why this is so, but it still fascinates me.

What am I talking about, you wonder. The easiest way to explain it is for you to visit my house, but of course, that’s not possible.

If you were to step through my front door, you would come into a large square hallway. Off it are seven doors. Two remain open most of the time, the others occasionally.

You would look around my home with the eyes of a stranger in a strange place. But for me, I see walls and doors that I know so well. I can tell you the story behind each ornament and picture. I know exactly the order of things because I’m familiar with them, and you are not. Therefore, you are not seeing it as I do. Of course the same is true if I came into your home.

It is the same for our families, the people we hold dear. For instance if you see a crowd of people heading in your direction and amongst them is your loved one, you’ll immediately home in on them,. It would be as if they glowed or had a big arrow above their head.

Mark Leslie, the author of A Canadian Werewolf series spotted this phenomenon, and wrote it so well in his book, Fear and Longing in Los Angelos. His main character was being met at the airport by someone holding a board with his name on it.

It’s funny how we see our own names so easily in a crowded mess. They leap out at us, as if the text weren’t normal text, but somehow highlighted or pulsing in a way to draw our attention.

My name virtually screamed out at me.

One year I was awaiting my family to arrive at a restaurant. Other people were walking in, but when my own arrived they immediately stood out from the crowd with loving familiarity.

Is it something you’ve noticed, or is it just my quirky overthinking personality!? 😂