New York City
 NYC
March 2, 2023 YOU: She was wearing a winter coat, but I couldn?t quite make out the color because it was dark out. I believe that she might have had a backpack or a shoulder bag. She had brown or black hair and I believe it was long and curly. ME: I was wearing blue and black cold-weather athletic clothes and running shoes. I was also wearing a camo skull cap beanie under my hood, which was attached to my zip up hoodie. We caught each other?s eye as we walked past each other on 27th Street in Astoria between 23rd Ave and 24th Ave around 8:45p. She was heading south on 27th Street in Astoria toward 24th avenue, and I was heading north on 27th Street toward 23rd avenue. We made lingering eye contact as we passed each other, walked a few paces, and then each turned around to look back at the other. See cheerily called back, ?Do we know each other?? And I said something like, ?I was thinking the same thing!? And as we walked back to each other she said, ?Sorry, you look like my friend Curtis!? And I said, ?And you look like my friend Dominique!? She then immediately stuck her hand out and introduced herself, and we exchanged names. She told me that her name was Amanda. I asked her if she?d been living in the neighborhood long, and she said that she?d been there for about eight years and really loved it there. I told her that I had been living there for about a decade and felt the same way about the neighborhood. She asked me where I lived, and when I told her that I was on Hoyt South and 27th Street she said, ?Oh, then we?re neighbors!? I regret not asking her whereabouts she lived, because ?neighbors? can mean so many things. I told her that I hoped that we would run into each other again, and asked her to please remind me of her name. ?Amanda,? she said smiling, and added, ?I hope so too.? As we each started to go our separate ways, she called back to me and said something like, ?Hey, don?t be mad if I don?t recognize you at first, you?re wearing a hat!? I laughed and said, ?OK!? I got about half a mile away and wished I?d told her that since we each thought we knew each other, maybe that was the universe telling us to get to know each other. And I then proceeded to feel intense regret about not asking her for her number. She was lovely, and those double-take connections are rare. If we?ve lived in the neighborhood this long without meeting before, I?d hate never to run into her again.
Posted: Friday. March 03, 2023.
 
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