Seeing Double

Ever since I have arrived back in the States, I have been seeing twins of all my English friends, acquaintances, and Ormskirkian town folk. It's not fair. I almost cried out the other day, "Simon! Hey! How are ya?!" Luckily, I held my tongue and saved myself from embarrassment and the boy from sheer fright from an apparent lunatic. These twins that God has placed in my original hometown seem to be hurting my heart in pangs of frustration and creating a longing for what I had to leave behind.

But, looking on the bright side of the situation, I'll lean on the hope that they are here in this town to remind me of the special friends and people I met along the way. These are people that often go unnoticed, but enriched my life in England with their kindness and thoughtfulness. The coffee guy at the library who was always ready with my 'regular' of a blueberry muffin and hot chocolate. I never learned his name, but we had an unspoken understanding that we were breakfast-time buddies at least four days out of the week. Also, the really nice guy at the Edge Hill library Blackwell's store--Mike?--I think that was his name. Once he said, "Oh, you're that really nice girl." He totally made my day by telling me this because I barely remembered talking to him before. And then the sweet cleaning lady for Eleanor Rathbone--Sue--I'm sure of her name. She took the time to have lengthy conversations with me about her life in England. It was so nice to get an adult's view of happenings in the news and to hear how an English family lives. Then the nice, always-smiling mail lady--Jane. She was always ready to help students and never rushed through helping each, one by one. She treated the students like people instead of customers. It's people like this who made the English uni experience all the more worthwhile and unforgettable.

Without the aforementioned, and many others', doubles here in Ohio, their impact on my life might fade away as the days pass and turn into months swept by. In fact, it has been one month and three days since I left. So what at first appears to be a curse--these twins that would be a Wrigley's double-mint gum advertiser's dream--actually turns out to be blessings. They remind me of all the great times I had at uni in the irresistibly charming town of Ormskirk.

Peace.