I was meeting a friend for coffee and cake. I set my purse down beside me, and it fell off the bench onto the floor. The contents rolled every which way under the table. My reaction was what you’d expect. I picked up everything in a hurry and sitting nicely by the time my friend arrived.
A little while later, in the ladies room, I decided to put on some lipstick. I rarely wear lipstick, but having to the pick the lipstick tube up off the floor reminded me that I even had lipstick to wear. I slipped the lipstick in the side pocket of my purse. Closed the purse securely, went back to my friend.
I dug around in my purse for my phone and saw the lipstick. Funny. I could’ve sworn I’d put that in the little side pocket. I opened the side pocket. A second lipstick.
Same brand. Same color. But not mine. Which one I used on my lips, I’ve no idea.
What are the odds that the exact same lipstick as I use would be on the floor under the restaurant table? Is that where the lipstick came from? Can’t say as I’m thrilled with the idea of using a stranger’s lipstick. Not that I dropped dead, but, you know, it just isn’t right, is it?
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 
That is bizarre! When stuff like that happens to my mom she says it came from a parallel universe. Maybe when you dropped your purse in that parallel universe the other-Marta’s lipstick rolled through a hole in the space-time continuum. 🙂
Well, that would explain a lot.
I like Sherri’s explanation.
It is my favorite, too.
How am I going to top Sherri’s explanation for this? Hm.
Well, let’s just go with Sherri’s explanation. It’s nicer. Mine all sound rude and demeaning and insulting and I don’t mean them to be. Parallel universe it is. 🙂
I am glad not to get any rude, demeaning, insulting explanations. Sure, maybe I’m such an idiot that I bought 2 lipsticks and didn’t remember, but this seems unlikely since that was only the third time I’ve ever bought lipstick in my life and since the lipstick was expensive. I can’t imagine I spent the money twice and don’t remember.
And both lipsticks were clearly used, so one couldn’t be a surprise gift or anything.
Just weird.
Oh, no. No no no. Don’t mistake me here — I didn’t mean I’d be insulting or demeaning to YOU. No, never. Not on your own blog for sure. Heh.
I meant to other people, or to me; and of course I’d have come across as a jerk (which I am but try to hide online as much as possible), so I don’t want THAT either.
No, I’d never insult you. But I might’ve crossed a line or two being … um … creative. So I’ll stick with Sherri’s explanation because
It’s cool and awesomely niftyIt doesn’t demean or insult anyoneIt doesn’t make me look like an a$$ even if I am one
Hope this helps – I don’t want you to feel I was set to attack you or thought nasty things about you, Marta. Not the case. 🙂
wow. just wow.
Yeah. Sometimes life has these odd, inexplicable moments.
That is so bizarre! I was thinking the 2nd lipstick thing too, but then duh, you’d know if you had a 2nd lipstick, just like I’d know. Lipstick isn’t cheap!
Maybe you have an identical twin out there who was at the same restaurant and she dropped her purse but couldn’t find the lipstick … and it’s actually a secret code … wait, there’s a secret code inside the case or something, that you have to find, so you can time travel to the parallel dimension! Yeah, like that! 🙂
Hey, wipe off the tops of both with a tissue, and you now have a 2nd lipstick for free. 🙂
I think the consensus about where it came from is: Sherri’s right. This pretty much decides it, right?
It might be the universe’s (this one or the other one) way of suggesting that you try on something of somebody else’s every now and then… even when you think it’s yours, or otherwise exactly like it. I mean, we can be pretty sure that they weren’t EXACTLY the same. One had to have been used at least once or twice more than the other, even if the difference was invisible. So maybe when you’re working on something and get stuck (or not), it’s saying something like “Do what you always do, but do it with the mindset you had when it was still new.”
Now I’m just riffing. 🙂 But who knows? The universe (either one) is a funny place.
wow! totally off topic, but I have you to thank for this…Open Salon, where I cross-post, put today’s essay on renting versus owning on the front page and made it an editor’s pick.
thanks for pushing me in the direction of covering this. first awesome bunnies, now valuable content. mwah!
http://open.salon.com/cover
I think it was the Lipstick Fairy. Or perhaps the Evil Witch. The fairy would have kept one container sealed. So I say chuck them both.
P.S. Completely off the subject: did you finally get the mapelba.com domain name??? (Just noticed that when you submitted a comment at my place.)