One of my favorite episodes of The X-Files is called "The Field Where I Died." Usually the show is about aliens (which might or might not exist, depending on which season you're watching), but this one is about an investigation of a local cult that supposedly has a cache of weapons and is abusing children.
During the investigation, FBI special agent Fox Mulder experiences deja vu, which leads him to find the cult leader and his six wives, hiding under a trap door and preparing to drink a deadly liquid. He feels a strange connection to one of the wives, who talks to him as if she knows him. He begins to believe she is recalling a past life.
Regression hypnosis confirms his suspicions, and we learn the woman and Mulder have known each other in past lives. Mulder learns from hypnosis that he has also known his partner, special agent Dana Scully, in previous lives. In one life, Scully was his father, and in another, she was his sergeant in the Confederate Army. Scully finds old photos of a man who appears to be Mulder that confirm the stories.
The episode's message? People who are important to each other in one life find each other in another, even if the relationships change. (If you believe in reincarnation, that is.)
I thought of the episode Thursday as we were packing up after our final day at Oval Beach during our annual summer vacation in Saugatuck. A woman sitting near the parking lot with her husband watched as Dan and I schlepped our stuff up the sand hill before complimenting us on a job well done.
"Most people have to stop halfway up," she observed.
I'm not sure how that one comment evolved into a full conversation, but it did. We soon knew where each other lived, how long we've been coming to Saugatuck and our favorite places to eat. I introduced her to my husband and my daughter - who returned from the concession stand just in time to get in the car.
This woman had a huge smile and a contagious laugh. I thought I heard her husband call her Donna, and confirmed that was her name.
"That was my mother's name," I told her. She smiled.
We chatted for a few more minutes until it was clearly time for me to leave. We exchanged our goodbyes and that was it.
"You're going to turn into Grandma Donna, making friends with random people," Ainsley told me as we headed to the car.
"I knew that woman in a past life," I told Ainsley, who gave me a rather strange look in response.
I proceeded to tell her about the "X Files" episode, which she listened to for about five seconds before something else caught her attention. No matter. I didn't need her to understand.
I'm not sure I really believe I knew Donna in a past life or that I've even had a past life - or lives, for that matter. I know I'm predisposed to talk with random people, since that's essentially what I do for a living. And because I enjoy talking to people and have been doing so for a long time, I often make a connection. But this one felt different.
Maybe it all can be attributed to the fact that we both love Saugatuck and Oval Beach. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she and my mother have the same name. Or maybe we once worked together as FBI agents, investigating aliens.
- Pamela Lannom is editor
of The Hinsdalean. Readers
can email her at
