I am here to tell you that YES- you can!
(Before I launch into this long overdue blog post, Happy New Year...and happy all of the holidays that I've missed since my last post!)
Let's get back to the topic at hand- meeting your doppelganger without seeing them.
My reading goal for 2025 was 72 books- and I met that goal! The last book I read to round out the year was Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas. I'd not read anything by her previously and didn't know much about her other than she'd written a few other books and had written for prestigious magazines (New Yorker, Atlantic, Esquire).
My friend Andrea (we seem to be on the same wavelength about a lot of books) said she'd read it a long time ago and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to ending the year on a high note.
In a nutshell, the book is the tale of Ms. Laskas and her partner (who has a poodle- but it's a standard poodle, not "...one of those little yappy things..." as is frequently repeated throughout the book) and their quest to leave the city of Pittsburgh and live on a farm (fifty acres) and all that entails.
After reading this paragraph on page two, I texted Andrea and told her I was convinced I'd picked the right book:
"In fact, I was a person who liked to go to the mall. I was a person who had no conflict about liking to go to the mall...I used Clinique products on my skin, mainly because I was a sucker for the free stuff you could get during Clinique Bonus Time. I had a formidable tower of Stouffer's Lean Cuisine in my freezer, and I harbored little or no fear of processed foods. I believed very deeply in the power of air conditioning, microwave ovens, and very many things you plug in."
I love the mall! When we bought our house, I told John I'd rather border a mall than a state forest! (This is somewhat of a misnomer...I haven't been to a mall in ages. It's more that I have an affinity for shopping. My mall loving days were in high school and college.)
I've used Clinique skin products since college.
I've eaten a LOT of frozen food in my time. I'm not a great cook, so while I was in college/lived on my own, I frequently ate hot pockets, Stouffer's, etc...
The next paragraph? She talks about the TV show Green Acres! I'm sold! She says how she has a "farm dream" not unlike Oliver and Lisa in the 60's TV comedy (hence the foundation of the book.) She finds herself singing the theme song...which admittedly, I often do.
The similarities continue...
Her partner Alex has two children from his previous marriage- a boy and a girl (samesies).
She and Alex get married on...September 13th! (This is when things got real for me and started to freak me out a bit- that's John's and my wedding date.)
As I was making my way through the book, I told John the similarities and how crazy it was. I even said, "They have two dogs, but neither is a Golden."
Next chapter?
You guessed it- they get a third dog and it's half Golden Retriever!
So, while there are some definite "non-doppelganger" things, i.e., actually wanting a farm and going through with buying it being the biggest one, I'm still floored at the likenesses between us.
While I'm sure we look nothing alike (I honestly haven't looked up a photo of Laskas, as I think I'll be over the top freaked out if we DO look alike), we are fraternal and spiritual doppelgangers!
Happy New Year!
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