I know I should know you
One of the most uncomfortable things for me is when I should know someone but don’t. What makes it even worse is when they know me. This has happened quite a few times in my life, and it never gets any easier. Whether you’re at the local Steak n’ Shake grabbing a cup of coffee with friends or at some store grabbing some toothpaste, you never know when it will happen. From behind someone says, “Hey, John, how you been buddy”, or something similar. You turn, stare, and look like an idiot when you don’t know what to say at the person you swear you’ve never met in your life.
My kid had his first day of soccer on Saturday and he was very excited. He knew his two best friends would be there and he love to hang out with them. He’s grown up with these two kids, since the age of 6 months they have been in the same daycare together. Now at 3 they are almost like brothers.
When we arrived at soccer I had already met both of the kids parents except for one of the kids father. He introduced himself to me and them men folk separated themselves and began talking. The father I already knew, we’ll call him the Fisherman, was talking about his coaching position for the varsity team on a prominent St. Louis private high school. I mentioned that I was cut from the DeSmet team during tryouts my freshmen year and never tried again. The other father, the Accountant, said he went to DeSmet as well. In typical St. Louis fashion, once you know where someone went to high school, you ask what year. The Accountant graduated the same year as me. Awkward.
Luckily, after talking for a few minutes, we realized that we didn’t hang out in the same social circles and really didn’t remember each other. But it’s still bad since there were only 250+ students in our graduating class.
After I got home I busted out the old yearbook and noticed that the Accountant was an honor student and an athlete. I, on the other-hand, was the opposite. A non-athletic geek in the dumb classes. In a sick sort of way it made me feel a little better. Not to mention that it’s been 13 years.
The Accountant is a really nice guy, and I hope to see him again at a birthday party or soccer practice or whatever. If anything, just to explain that I’m not an arrogant SOB, but we could never have know each other due to the fact that our social circles would never have allowed it.
Ahh, high school, if you weren’t in the cool crowd, you were permanently scarred. I wear my scars with honor, I survived.
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