Mirror Synchronicity: The Nose Knows

Note: there are actually two synchronicities in this post. The first part is actually a directional synchronicity, but I was rather attached to the title for the second synchronicity, so I kept it.

This past weekend my in-laws were visiting from out of town. Every time my husband and I have out-of-town guests, we always deliberate on where to take them. We don't have a set place that we like for guests yet.

There is a new wine bar in town that I suggested. My husband was reluctant because he had never been there but after I raved about it, he agreed to check it out. I had called ahead and found out that their busiest time was 7:00 p.m. so we arrived promptly at 6:00 to beat the rush. Well, apparently we weren't the only ones who had the idea of visiting the new wine bar/restaurant on a Saturday night because even at 6:00 there was  1 1/2 hour wait.

Since we had the buzzer anyway, we decided to walk a little bit down the street of the outdoor mall to see if there was an opening at Turkish restaurant that we like, Cafe Istanbul. We didn't recommend that restaurant immediately because we weren't sure whether our guests would like it, but they assured us they eat Mediterranean food. Best of all, there was no wait. We were seated with the buzzer in hand and after we ordered our food, I ran back and returned the buzzer to the other restaurant.

When I came back, my father in-law was making small talk with the man at the table next to us because he was wearing a Hilton Head sweatshirt. I was sitting parallel to him with my husband in between us. I leaned forward and glanced at the man. Something about him looked familiar. I glanced again. He looked back at me and I sensed he did not recognize me.

The man at the restaurant

I thought maybe I was identifying the similarity between him and the actor John C. Reilly. (Note, I did not think he WAS the actor, but in the moment I thought that was maybe that was why he looked familiar.)

John C. Reilly

I looked at him again and he caught me looking at him. It was akward so I said, "I'm sorry, you just look really familiar to me."

He said, "Let me see your nose." That certainly was unexpected.
** [This is where a 2nd synchronicity comes in but I will finish the first story]

I faced him straight on and he said, "I'm an ENT. I am Dr. ______," [That's ear, nose and throat for anyone who has never needed to see an ENT].

As it turned out, he was MY ENT.  I had sudden hearing loss over ten years ago, and he was the doctor that I saw a decade ago. This year, I saw him again when I had to have my ear tubes re-inserted. The reason I had trouble recognizing him was because when I see him before surgery he's usually wearing his surgical mask which covers up a big part of his face!

Once we figured out how we knew each other we had a good laugh and sadly he told me he moved his practice out of town. If I have any more ENT issues, I have to go see his partner. I was glad to find that out because he told me who I should see.

** Now here is the 2nd synchronicity (mirror synchronicity). Just a few days ago my husband and I were flipping through the television and a cheesy 1980s movie came on. He recognized one of the actresses and paused the television and kept quizzing me to see if I could guess who it was. He said he could tell who it was because he recognizes people by their noses.  [It was Melora Hardin, who plays Jan from The Office, but I cannot remember the 80s movie it was].