Our daughter came up to attend her high school reunion – marking so many years that it makes me feel old, never mind her.
She reported afterwards she experienced too many conversations in which she finally just said, “I really don’t remember you.” At least she was honest – at my last reunion when I was in the same fix umpteen years ago (never again) I gave them a smile and said things like “How are you?” In our defense, we both had big graduating classes.The next morning, we went out for breakfast before she hit
the road back to New Jersey and her own family. It was Sunday, so I decided we
keep it simple and go to the tiny center of town instead of a proper restaurant
that would be packed with hungry post churchgoers.
In the center of town, which features three buildings and a
still-in-the-works brew pub, is the Village Cafe. It’s a twin to the Calvin
Village Store in my mysteries, where all the characters come and go and major
plot points are revealed.
Our egg burritos were perfect, we had a nice long chat, and parted with souvenirs: the smells from the grill that were still clinging to our clothes. The place has fallen out of favor with some town residents lately, I imagine for this very reason. Word on the street is that the owner of the building refuses to make any upgrades, like a decent ventilation system, so now another place at the other end of Main Street has been overrun with people needing morning muffins.
Memory is so variable. I know someone who went to the same high school as I but 20 years later. He also went for longer, for I moved after two years. I seem to remember most of my teachers but he draws an almost complete blank, apparently.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Maybe my daughter inherited the "poor memory" gene from me, if there is such a thing.
DeleteThat's a shame! My village has the same problem; the old cafe that my children remember stopping by, on the was to see grandma. It went out of business a year ago; the owner of the building did not renew the lease, rather than upgrade the very old building with its bathroom out back, with the key on the wall.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad, seeing an old building allowed to fade away - and taking people's memories with it.
DeleteWell, that's too bad about the smells, but at least the food was good! That doesn't seem like a terrible compromise!
ReplyDeleteI was on the flip-side of one of those conversations at my reunion. I approached a girl I remembered and said "Hey, Stephanie!" And she looked at me and said, "I don't remember you at all!" I was insulted. Granted, I was only acquainted with her, but still.
Sounds like a lovely breakfast, other than the non-upkeep of the building.
ReplyDeleteMy HS class just had a reunion, which I didn't care to attend. I saw some of the pics shared online and then had to jog my memory as to who some people were. No excuse, my class was relatively small.