Reflections

What I see and what I don't - what I'm aware of and what I'm oblivious to - continues to fascinate me.
Today I was in the ground floor elevator lobby at work.  There are 5 elevators there - 3 on one side and two on the other - and a glass fronted display case at one end.  I usually walk over and push the "up" button on one side or the other and then wait for a car to come, but in that position some of the elevators are always behind me.

There's a signal sound when the car arrives - one ding if it's going down, and two if up - but one of the cars has been silent recently.   I thought I'd step back out of the alcove to a place where I could see all the elevators at once.

I stood for a few seconds, looking at the elevators, the signal lights, and the other people waiting, and then saw my own reflection in the display panel at the far end.

A bit startled by my sudden awareness of my image, that had been there, unseen by me all that time, I then scanned the rest of the space.  Now attuned to the possibility that I might see myself, I saw image after image reflected in the polished elevator doors and door frames.  Eight clear, distinct Galens in all.

How could my mind ignore that information so completely?  How amazing that once tuned into one image, my mind captured all the rest?