One Mind

(ROCKWALL, TX — January 29, 2019) It’s eerie and amazing at the same time and it seems to happen more often in the last few years. Never do I anticipate it, one moment I’m just doing something mundane like washing dishes and I hum a few bars of a song in my head.

“I was singing the same song,” Angie says, “in the exact same spot.”

Weird.

It’s happened with dates too. It’ll be a Friday and I’m in class grading papers or wandering around inspecting my students’ work daydreaming about a date night with my bride. My phone vibrates with a text suggesting fish and chips at the Londoner and it is precisely what I’d been thinking. One day I even brought home ingredients for a dinner I’d been craving only to see Angie staring at the open bags, “That is exactly what I wanted.”

There’s actually been scientific research on the idea of people being so connected they sometimes think the same thoughts simultaneously. Scientists found that in family, and spouses especially, there is a sort of sixth sense that develops, the ability to be on the same wavelength periodically. It sounds crazy but it’s happened to me too many times to just blow off as imagination.

Yet, in the midst of nearly sharing a brain, Angie and I are so different. I’m woods and water, and the wilder the country I’m in, the better. Give me a tent and a campfire by a stream and I’m at home. Angie is city and civilization. A Target plus a late night concert and she’s one happy gal. I’m an early bird, loving quiet mornings with a cup of coffee and a good book. Angie is a night owl and as we start an early evening movie, I’m slipping into a coma.

I’m weak in the knees for a good chicken fried steak and she’s never met a form of chocolate she didn’t like, and we have this long standing debate every time we indulge our culinary cravings. I’ll cut a fork-size piece of deer steak that’s been battered and fried and dip it into some gravy and she’ll mumble, “So unhealthy.” Meanwhile, Angie slices into a piece of Godiva chocolate cheesecake and giggles slyly as I denounce the hypocrisy. It’s our shtick, our private little joke, and laughter has kept us inseparable for 30 years.

Nevertheless, being so close takes work and initiative to join the other in things they like to do. This summer we were like Dead Head groupies, soaking in The Dave Matthews Band, Luke Combs, Brothers Osborn and others. I took Angie to see her favorite band, Whiskey Myers, twice and both times the show didn’t start until 10 p.m. which required me to indulge multiple cups of coffee. We arrived two hours early to one of the events so we could stand inches away from the lead singer. She was in her element, singing every single word from every single song and smiling non-stop and I couldn’t be happier.

When I returned from a backpack excursion in the Ouachita National Forest, Angie started asking about the type of equipment she’d need in order to join me on a mountain adventure. So now I’m shopping for packs and boots that have a feminine touch yet will do the work of trekking for miles across remote ridges and trails. I found a pack the other day but I wasn’t sure about the color, in fact, I knew it wouldn’t be up her alley at all. And when I showed it to her, I had definitely read her mind. Great minds definitely think alike.

By Scott Gill is an RISD teacher, coach, and author of the book “Goliath Catfish.” Follow Scott’s blog at puptentpapa.blogspot.com and read more of his “Front Porch Ramblings” at BlueRibbonNews.com.

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