Lasting Impressions

Isn't it funny to think about what people think about when they think about you?

(I'll pause here, so you can re-read that sentence)

People who know you well have an abundance of things to remind them of you. You've created many memories together. But what about people you don't know all that well or don't see all that often? What was the lasting impression you left on them? What is it that crosses their mind when your name comes up?

This, I would like to know.

I once ran into someone (I can't remember who right now) and they told me that whenever they think of me, they think of George from Seinfeld. This caught me off guard. Why? Apparently they once saw me awkwardly carrying a large picture through the mall. I guess it was Christmas and I had purchased a huge picture of George Costanza in his underwear sprawled across a couch. Anyone who loves Seinfeld knows the picture I am referring too. Anyway, my point is, I had LONG forgotten that I had ever bought this. (I had thought this was a funny gift for my sister.....actually I still think it's funny). So I carry on in life, not remembering George in his underwear, yet there is someone out there who correlates that with ME. How weird.

Another time I ran into this guy Darren, who I worked with at Blockbuster, years and years ago. We stopped to say hi to eachother and briefly catch up. Then he asked me "So, does your mom still have black banana's?" What? I had no idea what he was talking about. He said whenever he thinks of me, he remembers a time at my house, when I had opened the freezer door to get some ice and he saw a bunch of black bananas in our freezer. He said he had never seen that before and thought it was completely bizarre. Yet that to me, is completely normal. I can't think of a time, even now, that my mother WOULDN"T have black bananas in her freezer. It's just the way it has always been. (If you don't know, black bananas are the best kind to use for baking...and my mother is an avid baker)

Both of these things in my mind, have absolutely zero representation to who I am, yet it's what two people out there think. I can only imagine what some other people might say. Similarily, what would I say about people I've crossed paths with in my life? You know, they say you never get a second chance to make a first impression but I don't think that's true. It may not always be people's first impression that sticks most in their mind.

So, George Constanza and black banana's, eh? Who would have thought.