Asian Tali and other doppelgangers

Friday night I didn't have everything I needed for the dinner I was planning to make.

Adam was so tired from his week that he couldn't string together a sentence.

It was well past dinnertime because I'd had too much fun sitting on my living room floor with Janet and chatting.  (Then when she tried to leave, I pulled out my knitting to show her.)

Our kids wanted dinner. (They are so boringly predictable sometimes.)

We batted around a few ideas.

"Let's just go see Asian Tali," I said.  So we did.

At Shake and Go, beloved by me for their sweet potato fries and fabulously incongruous decor, the girl that works behind the counter is friendly and efficient.  We all like her.  And though she's Asian, she reminds us of Talia, our beautiful red-headed cousin/niece.  

(OK, here's a tangent, but the decor:  the walls are covered in motivational posters like you'd see in a high school guidance counselor's office, one shelf is lined with Precious Moments figurines, the opposite shelf used to be lined with porcelain Disney Princesses although Friday there were bouquets of fake flowers instead, in the corner there's a ceramic Italian looking chef.  It's the kind of place you look around and wonder, "What happened here?!?")

Anyway.

Doppelgangers.

(I like that word.)

When I was in elementary school, Nathan Shirtcliff was in my class.  He was different than the other boys in my class, the ones who wore plaid button-up shirts and Wranglers.  His dad worked for the Forest Service so he was sort of exotic because he had lived in other places.  One of them was Washington, maybe even Everett.  When a jet flew over at recess, he would squint towards the sky and tell us what kind of Boeing plane it was.  I realize now that he probably couldn't tell, it's not like the planes were flying low--the nearest big airport was hours away.  We all believed him though because he used to live by the Boeing factory.

He was into Star Wars.  I had never seen Star Wars, I was only vaguely aware of it because of Nathan.  He had a Star Wars lunch box and dressed up as a Storm Trooper for Halloween.

Also, for show and tell, he brought a little bottle of ash from Mt. St. Helens to show us.  He told us all about the volcano erupting.

Nathan moved away, but years later, when I got to know Adam, he reminded me of Nathan.  (I should mention that Nathan was originally from Vietnam.  Braeden said maybe every Davis has an Asian doppelganger?)

Adam was a Star Wars devotee.

He remembers when Mt. St. Helens erupted.

He knows Boeing planes; he grew up near the factory.  (Probably every boy who grew up around here about that time knew about Star Wars and Mt. St. Helens and Boeing planes but this is my blog so I can make obscure connections if I want.)  

Being a Davis only by marriage, I don't know if I have an Asian twin in the world.

There is someone who lives in Chicago (or at least she used to) that I am like though.

When I was a waitress in high school, a group of fun seekers from Chicago were on a gambling expedition at the casino where I worked.  One of the men said, "Are you from Chicago?"

I said no.

He said, "Do you have a twin sister that lives in Chicago?"

No.

"Do you have any family in Chicago?"

No.

He called his wife over and they inspected me and proclaimed how I was identical to someone in Chicago.

"You do have a twin in Chicago," the man proclaimed knowingly.

I hope I meet her someday.

I hope she can give me some ideas for my hair.