I’ve been studying Bruce Lee since 2018. If you had asked me at any point who his wife was, I would have told you with 100% certainty: Linda Lee Caldwell.
Yesterday, I looked her up again, and I noticed the list of her spouses. Her last husband’s name? Bruce Cadwell. “Hmm, Cadwell. Cadwell. Wait. Oh my god!” I glanced over to the title of her Wikipedia page, and sure enough: Her name is Linda Lee Cadwell. There is no “l” before the “d” in her last name.
How can someone misremember a name they’ve seen dozens, maybe hundreds of times? First impression–blindness. You see it once, your brain takes a picture, and swoosh, it’s filed away. “Ahh, I know this, got it. Moving on.” Except when, well, you don’t actually know this.
Every now and then, take a second look—especially at the intimately familiar.