Yes, I think of you when I shave. Well… not specifically YOU. But someone. And yes, it’s weird.
A friend of mine admitted this week that, while she is doing a certain mundane activity, 3 specific people always come to her mind.
I thought these kinds of weird things only happen to me. Once again, I’m ecstatic to hear that another weirdie in the world also experiences this.
Just like my friend, while I’m doing certain every day things, different people come to mind. Some of these correlations between activities and memories of people make sense. Others of them are seemingly random. With all of them, I can be thinking about something else altogether, and sometime during these activities, these people pop into my mind.
For instance, whenever I shave my legs, I think of one family on my husband’s side. Almost always! Yup, it’s weird.
This one makes sense, to some degree, though. One of the sons in this family has had a ‘thing’ for smoothly shaved women’s legs for as long as I have been a part of the family (or he did when he was little… I haven’t tracked this obsession as he’s headed off to college…). So, somehow, my brain connected this family to shaving. OK. Whatever.
There’s also a friend I think of when I shave my underarms.
(I know, what’s up with shaving? I haven’t a clue, except maybe it’s a brainless thing we just do so our minds wander to other topics….?)
Anyway, this long-time family friend had breast cancer, and during her treatments she needed assistance with shaving her underarms. Her hubby was a little uncertain about shaving this awkwardly shaped space. She found this all quite comical and shared the story with everyone. And my brain has connected them to underarm shaving now.
Yah. Weird.
Then there are the people I think of and can find no reason why that specific activity triggers thoughts of them.
Like, whenever I’m using tweezers, I think of a good friend with whom I’ve experienced MANY life events… NONE of which ever involved tweezers. EVER. Really! Because we’ve tried to figure it out… nope, no tweezers!
And there’s a ‘cousin’ who always comes to mind when I clip my toenails. He’s the son of the precious woman my Daddy ‘adopted’ unofficially as his sister, and her 2 boys and my sister & I all grew up together as cousins. We spent many Easters and some summer holidays together. I can’t recall ANYTHING having to do with toenails. I don’t think of his toenails, or him clipping toenails. (That would just be gross! LOL!) He just comes to mind – no specific memory of an event or time spent together; just him.
Aside from personal hygiene, some other activities bring people to mind at strange times.
Re-lacing a pair of runners (tennis shoes, sneakers, whatever you call them) always brings to mind this tiny little waitress who always served our family at a favourite restaurant when I was growing up. I have no idea what kind of shoes she wore, or why it’s only when I actually lace the shoestrings through the eyelets in the shoe. It doesn’t happen when I’m lacing hiking boots or my snow boots… just runners. It doesn’t happen when I tie my shoes. It doesn’t happen when I buy laces, find laces, touch laces, etc. JUST when I have to actually re-lace a pair of runners.
Whenever I drive by a military base, I think of another friend, who I only ever saw on a military base ONCE. I know LOTS of people who have worked and lived on military bases. I don’t think of them. This friend neither worked nor lived on the base where I saw her. We were there for an event. She is not in the military and neither am I.
SEE!? It’s so random!
There are others, too, but I only remember them when that activity is going on. See, I don’t start doing the activity with the intent of thinking about these people. Sometime during the activity, though, they almost always come to mind, often enough for me to notice that it’s the same person with the same activity.
And it’s not like a smell or something that triggers a specific memory – I often don’t think about any particular event or memory at all. Just during that activity, a certain person pops into my head.
Weird indeed!
It’s not disturbing to me, though the people who I think about during certain activities might be bothered to know that I think about them during those activities. LOL! I’ll just keep the who’s to myself, so as not to freak or gross anybody out.
I know this phenomenon happens to at least one other person on earth. Have you experienced some sort of activity that always bring to mind a friend or family member?
