Have you ever been to a new place and swear that you’ve been there before - even though you know you haven’t? This past Sunday, I went out for a bike ride and ended up at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, in Newbury. Over the past year, I had ridden or driven by the farm dozens of times and never stopped by. The SPL Farm is a "230-acre site [which] includes a late seventeenth-century manor house that served as the country seat of wealthy Newburyport merchants and an attached farmhouse that was home to a Lithuanian farm family for most of the twentieth century." This site has been lovingly restored by Historic New England. Walking through the restored manor house, one could feel 400 years of history imbued in the house. In fact, a woman on my tour swore that she had been there before, but couldn't remember when. While I didn’t experience that same feeling, I could see how someone might feel like that if they had lived in that house during a previous incarnation. But it started me thinking about the times that I have experienced a feeling of visiting a place before.
In May 2000, I traveled to Paris for the first time and I just fell in love with the City of Light. But odder still, I sensed that I had been there before and felt completely at home. I hadn't expected to feel welcome at all - mostly because the French are ... well, French and aren't a very welcoming people. But it wasn't about the people of Paris but the city itself. Even though I knew nothing about Paris, I knew instinctively where I was at all times. I swear that I have lived there at some time in a past life. I experienced the same feeling in September 2001 when I traveled to England. Not while I was in London, which felt unfamiliar, but the minute I traveled to the English countryside - particularly Bath - I had that same feeling of having lived there before. And that's not just the Anglophile in me talking.
Perhaps during the French revolution, I was a Parisian aristocrat who, with the assistance of a brave stranger, eluded 'la guillotine' by escaping to England and lived out the rest of that life in the English countryside. No, wait, that sounds familiar. I'm thinking of Baroness Orczy's novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Sorry! It's probably something much simpler. Perhaps I worked as a lady's maid or a governess to a wealthy family who lived in the English countryside and traveled occasionally to Paris. That's probably more likely.
Perhaps during the French revolution, I was a Parisian aristocrat who, with the assistance of a brave stranger, eluded 'la guillotine' by escaping to England and lived out the rest of that life in the English countryside. No, wait, that sounds familiar. I'm thinking of Baroness Orczy's novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Sorry! It's probably something much simpler. Perhaps I worked as a lady's maid or a governess to a wealthy family who lived in the English countryside and traveled occasionally to Paris. That's probably more likely.
For giggles, I googled "past lives" and came across a website in which you input your date of birth and it'll tell you who you were in your last life. I captured the results - below:
Now this 'diagnosis' was really funny, but I'm not entirely buying it. Anyone born on the same day as I was would get the exact same results - not a very personalized result. Truthfully, I would love to actually have someone do a past life regression on me, but I don't know anyone reputable enough to plunk down a chunk of money on something so frivolous. If anyone has a solid recommendation though, I'd consider having it done. I think we can learn a lot from our past lives - particularly about how not to repeat past mistakes.
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