We met once for an hour? Of course I remember you.

How I carry strangers with me, and the social performance of pretending to forget

I walk into one of my neighborhood coffee shops to get some work done one morning—we were a bit late to daycare drop off and I decide to go to the ‘busy’ coffee shop so I know I will need to scope out the scene to see where I can sit. The communal table is already full, and only one open seat at a two-top remains. I ask the person sitting in the occupied chair if I may join them and they nod (as one does in these situations, unless you are waiting for someone or something like that).

As I scan the tables, I notice a woman that immediately looks familiar. Before I can finish the where do I know her from thought, I place her.

Two months ago, my husband and I met this woman while we were touring preschools for our son to attend when he turns two. She has a son a few months older than our kid but has had a nanny up until this point; this would be the first time her kid was in a school setting and her questions reflect that. A lot of her questions are good—as she asks them, I write down so…