There is a philosophy called Eternal Recurrence
Everything happens over again in the very same way,
That the life we live now, we have lived before,
And that we have lived it again and again from time immemorial.
It was one those Fridays in May of that year,
I was standing in lobby of a Hilton Hotel,
Where up and coming Professionals,
Convened to look for potential exploits,
Men sporting double breasted suits and ties
Shoes from Florsheim or perhaps Kenneth Cole,
Pranced around like lions in a jungle,
Trying to stalk out potential prey
Women in evening dresses,
With the tags still attached, in case they should want to return it,
High heels, and stocking-less legs,
Large earrings in honor of their Independence,
Then there was this one lady,
Whose lady-like appearance at first took me off-guard!
I was trying to remember where I had seen her before,
I then remembered that it was a few weeks before.
A few weeks before, I was sitting in my Company’s more upscale cafeteria with colleagues,
When this young professional Black woman walks in from the
Marketing department’s direction,
My eyes follow her as she picks up her tray; gathers and pays for her food;
She then takes a seat at a table amongst her colleagues.
I could tell that she was self-conscious, particular about her own presentation,
Her aura was conservative, in an intelligent sort of way, a lady to take home.
Many years later I would wonder what was I thinking as she picked-up that tray. Did I envision, then, that I would see her pick up trays many times in my life? I would, eventually, see her pick up more trays than I had seen anyone else pick up.
While at the Hilton, I remembered her but I did not tell her, then, that I had seen her before,
I didn’t tell her that when I saw her before, she was wearing the same dress as she was wearing on this day. I did not want her to feel guilty. After all, it had been more than two weeks, so there was nothing wrong with wearing the same dress twice in two weeks. I would later learn that she could afford almost any dress she wanted.
The next day there was a gathering at a comedy club in Philly,
I was late, finished viewing a game between the Celtic’s and Milwaukee
When I walked into the comedy club, everyone was already seated,
There was one vacant spot near the end of a long table,
There she was again, this time in dark sun glasses
I liked her better in the sunglasses, perhaps less conservative.
When the comedy was over, we all walked down the coble stone streets; I made it a point to walk beside her as she talked with a friend. They had been talking about the delights of cooking,
I interjected that I never cooked, I just get take out.
She replied, “We can’t have that!” with a smile!
And then I was thinking, so what are you going to do about it?
I was invited to join them for Brunch the next day
Brunch was at that same hotel where we had met,
She and her friend did most of the talking.
Two Ivy League Black Women talking about their careers
I picked through my food as I listened to them talk
I rather liked the way she spoke, in total control of her language
I was beginning to feel a little intimidated, believe it or not,
And then there was this sense of Déjà vu
Now I was thinking that not only have I seen her before,
I have actually known her before,
It must have been in another life, she was so familiar to me,
But I just knew that I previously knew her,
Not only do I have an excellent memory of this life,
I can sometimes remember my previous lives,
Perhaps this was my recognition of that eternal recurrence
Sitting before me now, was the wife of my previous life.
After Brunch, I bid them goodbye,
I went back to my apartment in the suburbs of Philly,
The first thing I did was called a friend from New Jersey,
I said hello S. S replied, what’s up J.
I said, guess what, S?
S laughed and said “what, J?”
“I think that I have met my wife”.
S said, “So, J, when did you meet her?
I said this time it was “2 days ago”,
“But the last time was a million years ago!”
J