So I was in a swanky Walgreens today in Lake Bluff. It didn't feel like a Walgreens, rather, it felt like what a giant sign on one of its walls said it was: "Your Neighborhood Health Corner." No joke. If I was to build my own private clinic, it would probably look like this Walgreens... though with less cheap alcohol. Only the good stuff for my imbibing patients.
Anyway, after I got what I wanted, namely scrunchies (my hair is long enough to be put into a ponytail once again), dental floss, and DEXTROSE tablets (yum), I waited in line to check out. You know when you can tell that the cashier is talkative because you find yourself waiting in line twice as long as you think appropriate? The dude in front of me started chatting her up and I smiled but inwardly shook my head. What a jerk. Can't he see I'm holding five awkward tubs of dextrose tablets? Jerk.
But then I get to the front of the line, and even though I don't want to say anything, she manages to ask me: "Do you have a brother?"
I'm intrigued. For one, I don't have any brothers.
Secondly, I'm black. She's white. I wonder if this could have been caused by the "all [insert name of other race here] look the same to me." But even I know that although I have dark skin, I don't look anything like most black people. I don't even look like my sisters, and they're related to me.
I asked the cashier if the man who may have been my brother was wearing a "New Trier Swim Club" hat, as I pointed to the turtle-fur lined hat on my head. She said no. "But he was wearing a hat," she told me. As I left, I thought about the extreme idiocy of her comment. A lot of people wear hats. A lot of people only sometimes wear hats. I can almost guarantee that he wasn't wearing a winter hat during his pharmacy visit. "Everyone has a twin I always say," she told my back as I breached the Walgreens' front door.
Fine. Let's say I'm stumbling around the Lake Bluff area and run into someone who looks exactly like me who is also wearing a hat. Would it be love at first sight? It would have to be, right? I've never met someone like me before. It's actually odd how not like anyone else I look. Yes. I know I'm black. But I don't look overtly African and I don't look African-American. You could say I look biracial, but that's not helpful at all because there's a lot of variance in physical appearance among biracial individuals. At least two people have told me I look Asian Indian, which I know I'm not. So what am I?
Why would this be love at first sight? Let me tell you something. I spend a lot of time reading scientific articles about attraction and how that all works. I find it amusing that you can guess how likely people are to be attracted to one another before they ever even meet. It brings third party match making to a whole new level of fascinating. It also introduces science!
Now I know you have to take most of these findings with a grain of salt, because it's technically "pop science," but a recent study found that people are attracted to people who look like them. It's creepy! But it also kind of explains why this is a website: http://siblingsordating.com/
It also explains why I rarely connect with people on a deep level. Though, that could just be explained by my severe social anxiety. Or my apathy. Or my playful awkwardness.
Anyway, if I ever found someone who looked like me, I'd probably jump them. Hey. It's what happened with Luke and Leia, and I know I'm not any better than the twin power couple that ended tyranny in an entire galaxy. The only thing I can do now is spend an inordinate amount of time at that Walgreens and flash my face at anyone who even closely resembles me. If that fails, then I'll know that the cashier thinks all black people look alike and I will be alone for the rest of my life. Sometimes being discernibly attractive isn't what's important. It's looking like other people. That's right. As if you didn't know: standing out won't get you laid.
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