July 29, 2007

Caveman Shivers

About a two years ago I worked at Fantastic Sams. For those of you who don't know, Fantastic Sams is a salon. It's a franchise and has fairly inexpensive haircuts-this results in interacting with a wide variety of people. While working there I cut a certain man's hair a couple of times. This man was single, probably in the range of 35 to 40 years old. He was muscular, freckled, hairy (it was red and all over his body), had a couple nastly scars on his neck from surgery, was socially inept, and quite awkward.

So one day I was cutting Stewart's hair (I can't for my life remember his name, so for the sake of story ease and staying concise we'll call him Stewart). As I was cutting his hair he had a HUGE shiver, out of nowhere. I'm sure you guys have all experienced this sometime in your life-out of nowhere you just get a shiver which has nothing to do with being cold or scared or anything. So he had this shiver, and said in a voice strewn with insanity "Ahhhh... A caveman shiver!" I apparantly had a confused look on my face so he explained that a 'caveman shiver' is when you get a shiver out of nowhere.

Since this event I have adopted this incredible phrase and it has become a part of my vocabulary, and in turn part of my friends' vocabularies. When ever we get such a shiver we say "Ahhhh.... A caveman shiver!"

So the day before yesterday I was at the Gym. As I was putting my things in a locker I saw a man out of the corner of my eye who looked just like Stewart. The reason he looked like Stewart, is because he WAS Stewart! Now I figured that he probably didn't recognize me (because it has been a long time, I hope that I look different that I did 18 months ago, I was in workout clothes and was fairly unattractive, and he's not the brightest of characters...) Yet despite all these factors I started freaking out! I thought that he was going to see me and maybe he would try to say something, or just look at me with a glint of recognition, or something of the like and it was going to be weird. So I hurried as fast as I could to head away from him, and avoided him for the remainder of my workout. I did glance over at him a couple of times and caught his eye.

All in all our 're-meeting' was uneventful, but it did take me back in time a little and refresh this story in my mind. I hope that the next time that any of you get a shiver out of no where you think of this man and 'caveman shivers'!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

of course it's a caveman shiver!! that is amazing and i'm glad that you tried to quickly get away from him at the gym because that is exactly what i would have done! the awkward eye contact was the best! i can totally picture the entire thing playing out in my mind

Camille said...

"A voice strewn with insanity." I peed my pants.

The Burnhams said...

That is a funny story Linds...I will always think of that story whenever I get those shivers
Love Karlie Sister