Your double may be out there somewhere

Grant McGee: Local columnist

Last weekend while yard sale-ing I made the acquaintance of a woman who told me I look just like a relative of hers who lives in Plainview.

While she was telling me how much I looked like her nephew, I was thinking about how much she looked like my Aunt Marguerite who lives down in Florida.

This got me to thinking about doppelgangers or doubles, you know, someone who looks like you. The original meaning of doppelganger was a ghost that looked like someone living that hangs around that person. Lately it’s come to mean our double.

Have you met your doppelganger?

I’ve never actually met my double. I’ve seen one and heard of others.

There was that guy in college, apparently a real fraternity party animal. I’d be walking to class or in town and girls would come running at me squealing, “Looby! Looby!” Then when they were almost ready to throw their arms around me they’d stop dead in their tracks.

“You’re not Looby,” they’d say, faces full of disappointment.

“But — but I could be,” I’d stutter as they walked away.

Then one day while crossing campus I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a guy who looked just like me. Hair, glasses, same height, I just watched as he walked away.

Once while kicking back at a local eatery an elderly couple came up to my table and wanted to take my picture. It seems they were passing through eastern New Mexico and thought I looked just like their son back in South Dakota.

No, I’ve never met any of my doppelgangers. It’d be interesting but I think it might not be wise. If I shook hands with my double would we both vanish in a flash of light? They say that happens if you meet yourself while time traveling.

But that’s another column.

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at: [email protected].