By Lee Scott
Somewhere in Beaufort is a woman named Pam who is my Doppelganger.
If you don’t know what a Doppelganger is then you never watched the Television show “How I met your mother.” So I will enlighten you. Originally a German word for double ghost, the term has morphed into a new definition which is “your twin or double”. According to some folks, everyone has a Doppelganger on this earth.
I know that I have a doppelganger because ever since I moved here people have called me Pam. It happens all the time. I will be at the produce section of the grocery store and people come up and start talking to me. “Hi Pam” they say and I turn and say, “No, my name is Lee”.
Some people grab a friend or spouse. “Doesn’t she look just like Pam?” And the two of them will study my face to see how alike or different I am from Pam. Of course, the question fills my brain. “Is she ten years younger or older than me? Is this a compliment?” When they say things like, “No the nose is different.” I find myself grabbing my nose as if to say “Is something wrong with my nose?”
There are those people who look at me as if I am having a senior moment. “Maybe poor Pam has forgotten her name!” I try to assure them. “No really, my name is Lee but people tell me all the time that I look like Pam.”
I have also been at crowded gatherings like the symphony where total strangers wave to me “Hi Pam”.
I just nod and wave. Why bother to explain. My husband shakes his head at my complacency at being called Pam. When it first started, I would ignore people because I assumed that they were talking to someone else. Poor Pam. She has gotten a reputation now for being quite the snob. I wonder if Pam is out there getting called Lee and ignoring people too or responding, “Not Lee, my name is Pam.”
Some part of me wonders if maybe Pam is my actual twin and we got separated at birth. I always thought I was adopted, but my mother assured me that she would not have adopted a child when she already had a four year old, a three year old and another child who had just turned one. Maybe my parents gave my twin away because they had too many children?
Now I am curious. I have to get introduced to Pam. So Pam, if you get a chance to read this article. Drop me a line. My email is Nowwhat.LeeScott@gmail.com.
I would love to meet my Doppelganger.
