I like to play this game. I see people–on the street, in a restaurant, wherever–and typically, I see someone who reminds me of someone else. I try to recall the remembered person fully, and I especially try to remember what state I lived in when I knew the person.

photo-4It’s an interesting game because some people just have a familiar look. I remember one summer when everyone looked like a fella I knew from college named Potter. And I’d never known Potter directly; I knew his last name was Potter and we had mutual friends. The summer that I kept thinking I saw him, I was living in College Park near the University of Maryland. Apparently Potter looked like College America to me.

But the game made me think of him almost every day. I figured it was sound to send good vibes to someone who didn’t even know it. That’s pretty much the game: trigger a memory, dust off more old memories until you make a connection with time and place, then send a smile to the remembered person in your mind. The ancient map in my head keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

Back in my home state again now, I’m playing this game a lot. Sometimes with memories from right here in Pennsylvania. Other times with people remembered from Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and Minnesota…

And sometimes, with you. I’m sending a smile your way.

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