The Snarking

Do you ever run into people who you'd consider kindred spirits?

They don't have to be anyone you spend a great deal of time with; just someone you encounter in some way or another that you feel an unspoken connection to based on compatibility of personality. (No, this has nothing to do with dating or romance, though if your love interest happens to be a kindred spirit, well... double bonus for you.)

For example...

A couple months ago I was at a friend's wedding reception sitting at a table with a couple of friends. It was near enough to Christmas time that one of the decorations in the center of the table was a small sleigh bell. While I was talking I absent-mindedly picked up the bell, and my friend nearby said, "Hey, shake it and give an angel its wings."

So I shook the bell, and all that came out of the bell was a muted "thunk". This happened just as one of the helpers with the refreshments leaned over to take our empty plates, and without missing a beat he said, "And every time a bell makes that noise an angel's wings fall off."

I burst into laughter, made eye contact with the kid (who looked about 17 years old), he smiled back, and took our plates away. But just in that brief moment of eye contact, I knew he was one of those. A person who I would instantly fall well with had our circumstances permitted us to be actual friends.

It kind of makes me think of that kid in the movie The Shining when he's talking to the old black guy who works at the hotel. The guy can sense that the kid has telepathic powers too, and talks to him using his mind. They have a brief conversation about the power that they both have (which he refers to as "shining"), Old Guy validates Kid's powers as something real, and then the characters go on their ways in the story. I think. I've only seen the edited TV version of it and I don't even know if it was in it's entirety so who knows what plot chunks are missing.

That description was so awesome that you don't even have to see the movie now.

Anyway. I dedicate this post to my smart-alecy kindred spirits out there. Old, young, male, female... mock on.