Thursday, September 10, 2009

True Story

A friend of mine told me about running into a man she knew while grocery shopping. She glanced up from the cereal box she was inspecting and saw him reading a bread label a few feet from where she was standing.

She walked up to him and tugged his sleeve.

When he turned politely to engage her she hugged him warmly, asked about his family and stood and chatted with him for thirty minutes.

It wasn't until she was leaving the store that she realized that her only prior contact with the man was morning after morning as he nodded to her when she climbed aboard his bus.


 

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Okay you made me laugh so hard my husband came in to see what the hysterics were about.

Oh, oh, oh I feel for your friend. One of those rich, burning moments of embarrassment that you swear will stay with you for life.

Priceless!

Rachel S said...

Oh yes, I've had that happen.
Or like last week when someone I'd seen every day for the past year came and sat at my table and I had to have my other friend introduce himself because I couldn't for the life of me remember where I knew him from. That was really bad.

harmzie said...

OMG I know that woman! Well, probably not, but the one I'm thinking of would *definitely* do that. She certainly engages people, and I love her for it (and some other things!)

D. A. Rupprecht said...

We all should do that... I'm sure it made that man's day...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the belly laugh! Okay, NOW I can start my day.

Karen from Mentor said...

I can just see you belly laughing Linda and it made me grin.
yay. we brightened each other's day.

hugs!
Karen :0)

Karen from Mentor said...

David,
I agree, especially since she's a hoot to talk to.

[And nice to hug]

Thanks for stopping in. Come back anytime!
Karen :0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Hey Harmzie,
You'll have to ask your friend if she knows me. And if she was in Ohio anytime recently. Which would be funny since I'm assuming she lives in Canada with you....

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Giggling.. Rachel. That is bad...I think you can probably just chalk it up to too many things on your mind that day....

[we hope]

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Wow Merrilee, a twofer...I got to delight you AND your husband today.

I feel so SPECIAL!!!!

woo hoo....
Karen :0)

Cat Connor said...

Hmmm if I did that to the bus driver I see the most often... he'd hug me back. (we went to high school together, his kids go to high school with my son.) LMAO

But what is fun is when I KNOW someone and they KNOW me...and it takes me ages to recall where or how I know them. Usually it's someone who was a patient or a cop - that I can't seem to recognize out of uniform. (cos they look COMPLETELY different in jeans and a tee shirt! especially if it wasn't one I went to school with.)
It's a small town. ;-)

T. M. Hunter said...

That sounds like something my wife would do... :-P

Karen from Mentor said...

And Aston the way you said that it sounds like that's a quality that you find endearing in her.

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

So Cat basically you're telling us that you and Rachel would BOTH be useless in a line up situation?

[unless everyone was wearing name tags]

giggling

Karen :0)

Alan said...

That's a nice bit of kindness in the world though. He was probably freaked out but felt nice all day!

~Tim said...

Reminds me of this commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBdTP9ZB-I

which I would say is one of the best commercials I have seen, except that I could only remember that it was for some kind of juice and if I can't remember the product it rather misses the point for commercials, doesn't it? [Whew!]

Karen from Mentor said...

I like that one too Tim. I bet the copywriter who thought of the concept woke up at three am and jumped out of bed shouting Eureka!

(and I thought the commercial was for a power bar...so, yeah they may have overshadowed the product with humor just a teensy tiny bit)

Karen :0)

Karen from Mentor said...

So Alan,
You're advocating hugging strangers?
[I'll tell my friend that she has no need to be embarrassed then...Alan says it's ok....I do have to say that I have no "and then the next time she saw him" story...cause she changed bus lines...]

I don't think I'll go around hugging strange men just yet....
I get into enough trouble just smiling at strangers......

As Rachel will tell you, I'll talk to anybody...but sometimes then they want to follow me home...like stray puppies.

*sigh* why do I have to be so damn adorable?
:0)

Anonymous said...

This is funny! I'm pretty good with recognizing people, but can get confused from time to time if someone tells about a person I haven't seen in 10 years. I may think of another person and then if I see them ask silly questions.

To your comment before mine:
Oh, Karen you are adorable! May I quote you sometime for "Funny Pearls of Wisdom"?

Karen from Mentor said...

giggling....jeez Estrella, I feel famous or something....

lets see, you liked what I said, it amused you, you want to reprint it and I get to bask in the glory......

um....yeah! [big grin]

:0)