Um, hi!

Lately, with increasing frequency, I've had people notice me and give me that look that they know me.  They'll wave or nod their head with a big smile from across the room, or even come up and start a conversation.  More times than not, I have absolutely no idea who these people are. 

It would be very embarrassing if I admitted I had no idea who they are, so I play it off.  I am the friendliest stranger you'll ever meet! 

A few weeks ago, I was standing next to a woman I do know in the office at gymnastics and another woman comes up to me and starts telling me about her mom and how she isn't doing well.  Her prognosis doesn't look good.  This woman looks at my friend and says, "It's ok I'm unloading like this, Robyn and I go way back."   WHAT?!?!  We do?  At this point, I wasn't sure if I should be hugging her in consolation over the news of her mother or offer to bring her family dinner.  Just how far back do we go?  No clue.   Hopefully I played it off appropriately.

While at a restaurant in Arlington, having dinner with my friend Ivy, we stood in line waiting for a table.  The place was unusually packed because of a fundraiser underway.  As more and more people were walking through the door, a ton of people looked right at me, smiled in recognition and said hi.  I just played it off, smiled right back at them and said "Hello."   I haven't lived in Arlington over 8 years and had no idea who any of these people were.  It was too funny and my friend and I got a good laugh about it. 

Voting for the election took place at Ian's elementary school.  You can just imagine how many people spotted me in line during those whole 15 minutes we were there.  I was constantly nodding and saying hi back to everyone who looked at me and said hello, with a visible sign of recognition on their face.  Fortunately I did know one of these women and could actually have a conversation interacting instead of racking my brain trying to figure out if I should be doing more than smiling, pretending like I knew them.

People seem to know me wherever I go.  I wish I knew them back.  My friend, Heather, has the most amazing memory for names and faces.  She will remember seeing someone from like 20 years ago as if she just met them 5 minutes before. I am continually impressed with this magical memory skill she has.  I seem to use my memory for less useful info; like what seat I was sitting in at the movie theatre watching almost every movie I've ever been to.  What good is that going to get me?

It's too bad that we don't live in a world, where I can be completely honest and say, "You seem like a really nice person.  Can you tell me how I know you?".   Or, what if we all just walked around with name tags on?  Wouldn't it make life so much easier?