Madam, you are mistaken!

Several times in my life I have been mistaken for someone else--once it was because of my name. Some woman called my house for weeks looking for that other Rick. But the "you look familiar" thing happens to everyone at some point. Usually it's someone who thinks you went to elementary school together, you used to date one of their friends, or that you were on the same team at some point. It never involves a former best friend or other really close relationship. Well, almost never.

Several years ago I was out shopping with the family in a small town just outside Baltimore. We decided to have an early dinner and stopped at a chain restaurant my wife likes. Since it was early the place was almost empty. Just as the hostess asked "how many" we heard a woman yell "What are you doing here?" We knew she wasn't talking to us, so we ignored her and followed the hostess to our table. As we looked over the menu, my wife whispered that the woman (who had shouted) and the older woman with her were both glaring at us.

After the waitress took our order, the woman stood up at her table and yelled at me "Jim, What are you doing here and who is that woman????" She was so mad she was shaking. I asked her if she was talking to me {but not like in "taxi driver"}. She squinted, took a few steps towards me and asked me to speak again. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about. She blushed and apologized. She said I looked just like her EX-HUSBAND and that both she and her mother thought I was him--Jim. Thank goodness I have a deeper voice than he does. They left pretty quickly after our exchange.

My wife has fun with this. Every once in a while she'll bring it up and say she wondered if I was going around pretending to be "Jim Kirk." Then she smirks a very pleased smirk. I don't mind being teased, but it does bother me a little to think there is someone out there who could be mistaken for me by his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law. Because of her anger towards him, I thought of him as my evil twin. But really, I shouldn't have judged him by the reaction of an ex. He could be a great guy.

Maybe I'm the evil twin. ;P

PS-I shared this story once before. I'm sharing it again because it's one of my favorite stories that very few have read--plus I'm hoping it will help me get over a case of blogger's-block.