Faces

Have you ever looked long and hard at someone that you have known for a very long time? No, there is no hidden meaning here--I really mean just looked at them; their face and their features. I realized recently that I don't really LOOK at the people that I know anymore. Of course I see them and talk to them, but when I see someone new on the street, I notice many more of their features than I do my close friends and family. I have known these people for years and years, and when I see them my mind automatically connects a name and a face and a personality. But when I look at a person's face for a long time that I have known for a while, they become strange. It's a hard phenomenon to explain. Its almost like I look past the person that I know to just see their body--they fade into being just another stranger on the street. I notice their eyes and their nose and their mouth and their hair.  The strange thing is, it works with my face as well. Usually I glance in the mirror, but I don't sit there and study myself; when I do take a look at my features, I also fade into strangeness.

The things that I usually first notice about a stranger seem to pop out at me from the people that I know all to well--I guess its just one of the many reminders that every single person that I know is just another human on this planet. These are just the ones that I care about more.