Reality Bites

I was in an airport recently and I saw someone who looked familiar......but I couldn't immediately place the source of where I knew her from.

Was it College?  (one of the THREE I attended)

My Mission?

My job?

An old job?

My old neighborhood?

I couldn't quite come up with a name....but I kept seeing her.....and as a result I kept looking at her, too.

I first saw her when her group and my group (my daughter & I) were both converging onto the escalator.  And I took a double-take.

Then she was right behind me in the security line.  I looked at her again - and she saw me doing so, but she said nothing, so then I thought maybe I didn't know her.  Except I was pretty sure I did!

Then when I was standing in line at the airport Cafe Rio, I saw her enter the food court.  By this time, I was sneaking in more glances - pretty much staring - until our eyes would meet again while I was doing so.

Then when I had sat down to eat, it came to me!  It was a girl from High School.  Not just a girl, but a friend - like I had hung out at her house before!  We didn't do everything together, not like BEST FRIENDS, but we were "medium friends".....I think we might have group dated to a Girls' Dance?  (But, don't quote me on that - those years' activities are getting foggier and more distant!)  But, I don't think I have seen her since then.

So, THEN, having now recalled who she was, I decided to acknowledge and greet her.
So, when she & her husband started walking right towards my table, carrying their food tray, to get to their table, I kind of reached out my hand in a wave, to get her attention, and said, "You look familiar to me."

To which she reacted with an absolute. BLANK. look. on her face.
It was almost a skeptical look like why-the-heck-is-a-complete-[flipped-out]-stranger-making-advances-at-me? look.  (Her body Language: she stopped in her tracks and leaned back away from me.)

I then asked, "Are you (insert her name)?"

She seriously had NO sign of recognition on her face.

She said nothing.  She just stared back at me.

(I started to wonder if I had gotten it all wrong.  That she wasn't really who I had thought.)
When her facial expression did not change, I was about to say, "Nevermind." 

But, then her husband answered for her (since, apparently, my greeting had rendered her mute).  He said, "Yes.  Yes she is."

I could tell she still couldn't identify ME, so I said, "I'm Suzanne."

[Still no "A-ha" moment.]

So, I continued by saying my maiden name, too.

And then she [unconvincingly] said, "Oh.....yah...."
(and then we chit chatted for a few minutes.)


But, afterwards, as I reviewed the scenario in my mind, I knew what had happened.

What a slap in the face, but it was true.  She could not even tell a resemblance from my High School self that she had known to my Present day self  who'd "stalked" her at the airport.

It means I have changed too much!

And that is alarming!

It's stupefying what 25 years can do to a person.
{and depressing.}  

REALITY:  I can't pass as a 17 yr. old anymore!!! 

What d'ya think?  Would YOU have been able to even recognize me?

High School Senior

[feeling like a] Senior Citizen

It was probably just because I'm not using a tight curling iron and ratting my hair these days, right?!?

RIGHT?!?

Okay....good.