And I, Have To Speculate, That God Himself Did Make Us Into Corresponding Shapes, Like Puzzle Pieces From The Clay

--"Such Great Heights", The Postal Service



I've always been known for having an overactive imagination. Most often this translates into crazy stories that often have no resemblance to reality or what happens to normal people. Sometimes, though, this prompts other, more radical, theories such as my "vegetables killed the dinosaurs/mushrooms killed the unicorns" dual theories. One of my theories that is currently strandling right on the borderline between mere fancy and serious fact of life in my mind is the theory that we've lived other places beforehand. I'm no proponent of reincarnation and I never have been. Lately, though, the fact that somewhere in a previous life I've lived in Boston has been really plaguing me. The latest piece of evidence to creep up is the fact that, the more I think about it, a lot of the music I listened to as a teenager were actually produced by artists from the Boston area that I had no idea were from the Boston area--Letters to Cleo being the biggest glaring example. There are just too many specific aspects of that town, its people, and the whole Boston experience for it to be mere coincidence; somewhere along the way I must have spent a lifetime there and loved it immensely.

That got me to thinking that, if there are certain cities that were meant for an individual, then the whole concept of certain people being destined for one another has to be true as well--the corralary being that, of course, these people don't often live right around you either. I mean--if the city I was supposed to live in for all intents and purposes can be on the other side of the country then I don't see why the person I was destined to meet cannot be in other state or country as well.

Case in point, I recently told my friend Carly that she would probably get along very well with one of my oldest friends, Jina, because they share similar interests and a similar disposition. What's weird about this announcement was the fact that, one, I don't often cross-pollinate my friends seeing any opportunity for people who know me in two divergent ways to compare notes is just a bad idea, and, two, that Jina still lives on the other side of the country, which makes any opportunity to meet face-to-face rare as the day is long. I thought it was the former idea that bothered me most, being paranoid as all get all my life. I didn't relish the idea that these two would be soon able to compare all the embarrassing anecdotes that each possesses. Lately, though, the latter idea has begun to consume my thoughts more. It's kind of a complicated thought that two similar people with two similar personalities and interests might have never met were it not for me. It's distressing to think that there might be people out there who I could compliment so completely that I'll probably never meet due to the vagaries of circumstance.

It's like whomever is in charge is playing a giant game of Memory, spreading matching pieces wily-nily over the entire globe and not providing any of us with a Mapquest print-out of where to find our corresponding card. We're left to our own devices to seek out and find that individual who matches up with us as completely as possible. I'm just thinking more and more that there have to be people out there who live hundreds or thousands of miles away that are more suited to me than those people who live immediately around me.

Maybe I've always believed that theory, but the more I spin over the fact that Boston may be the town where I end up living the rest of my days, the more I spin over the fact that the set of friends I've made already are not the best set of friends I could possibly have. I mean--the person I feel closest to lives all the way in Georgia, who's to say that the network of friends I'm meant to have doesn't extend all the way to Jakarta or Nepal?

The thought's a tad depressing, I know, but, for now, it makes complete sense to me. Sometime ago I had lifelong friends and maybe that devotion extends beyond one life into the next, and maybe it's solely a matter of rediscovering that individual that's the problem. Also, perhaps knowing one should look is the first step of the process of finding out where to look. Who knows?

Or maybe all of this is, as aforementioned, just another wacky theory of mine.

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers