Mystery Woman From the Past!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This weekend as I was loading the family groceries in the car a girl walks by the welbymobile, stops, stares at me for a second, and then says "Welby’s Full and Proper First and Last Name?"

“Ummm, yeah.”

"It’s Mystery Chick From Your Past!, we used to sit together in Spanish class, 10th grade!

Now look. I have a shitty memory for faces to begin with, names are even worse. But I had no fucking clue whatsoever who this girl was. None. Not an inkling.

She remembered every detail, from the color of my backpack to the fact that I walked home along Maple Avenue. She knew my brother’s name, though she never met him because he lived with Mom growing up and I lived with Dad. Knew the name of my dog. Remembered that I would constantly get in trouble for writing poetry or short stories instead of paying attention to Spanish class. All things were remembered.

Even scarier, I look nothing like I did in 10th grade. I have a full beard, longish hair, and am a little porkier. I wore a crew cut in 10th grade because my Dad was a military man who beleived that a military haircut promoted military thinking…well the man is a psychopath still, but that’s not the point.

How could this woman look at the person I am now and see the person I was in 10th grade? Not only could I not remember her name, but when she repeated it no bells rang. When she told some humorous stories about Spanish class I remembered them happening, but nothing about her at all.

She then proceeded to tell me what a huge crush she had on me, and ask if I’d like to have dinner or get some coffee. She told me she was single, looking, blah blah blah. It was a little flattering, this girl who liked me in 10th grade was obviously on the make. However, I explained the existence of welbywife and the welbybrats, so she dropped the idea of getting together.

She gave me a business card with her home number jotted on it and told me to give her a call sometime, then went into the store. I’ll never call, but I HATE crap like this.

So I dug out the 10th grade yearbook, and there she was, Mystery Woman From the Past. 10th grade. I didn’t recognize her from the picture in the yearbook either. Maybe my concious mind is blocking out some horrendous memory of her or this time period.

2

Damn! Why do things like that never happen to me??

I guess the question is - did you miss out on a good thing in highschool when she originally had the crush?

i.e.

Was she cute then?? :slight_smile:

3

Really, welby, you have waaay too many interesting things going on in your life. Why do you have all the fun? sigh

P.S. recovered from your Halloween injuries yet? :smiley:

4

garius I don’t know if it was a good thing, but she was and is cute. Not cuter than welbywife, of course, but cute.

NinetyWtThanksfully, I am recovered from Halloween. As to why I have all the fun, who knows. Weird things constantly happen to me. Remind me to tell you about the gay bar sometime.

5

Are you married now? Because I’ve noticed that a woman’s favorit trick is to wait until you’re no longer available and then tell you what a huge crush they had on you back when you were.

6

Very weird. Very weird.

Though I must say, while it is unusual for her to still recognize your appearance has changed so much, it can happen. Some of us possess this bizarre power to be able to recognize people even when they are very physically different. I possess this power—it freaks me out sometimes, to be honest. When other people doubt me and say, “No, surely! That can’t be so-and-so!” I’ll look piercingly at them and say, “Are you doubting my powers?” and that shuts them up. I rarely am wrong.

And with this girl, if she had some mad crush on you, well, that would just compound it. She still remembered everything about you. Yikes.

7

It’s a conspiracy. She dug through your past and conducted interviews with your friends and family members in the guise of a census taker or friendly telemarketer, then got a copy of your highschool yearbook and had a replica made up with her picture in it, then switched it with your copy. It’s all part of a plot to STEAL YOUR SOUL!!!

8

I’ve had similar things happen to me.

  1. Walking around my college campus (but nowhere near my own living area), I ran into a girl I knew. We stopped to say hi, and the chick she had with her said “Hey, aren’t you Kyla Last-Name?” Turns out we went to high school together for like a semester, but I had no memory of her at all.

  2. Sitting at a bus stop in downtown Jerusalem, the girl sitting next to me asks, “Hey, didn’t you go to UC Santa Cruz?” I was totally spooked, as I could have sworn I’d never seen her before. Apparently we’d been in an anthropology class together the previous year. And there we were, sitting next to each other at a bus stop 10,000 miles away.

  3. For a year and a half after college, I worked in the only new bookstore in my hometown. As the biggest and best bookstore around, it’s kind of a focal point for the town. People I didn’t recognize were always coming in and asking about my mom, and how was my sister, etc. It made me very nervous.

9

Damn…Welby…getting…all…the…good-looking…women…

grrrr

Since you already have the wonderful Welbywife it hardly seems fair.

:frowning:

10

It’s clear that she’s stalking you. Run, no sprint over to the police station and have a restraining order drawn up.

11

I have a story. Welby, your mystery woman at least sounds sane.

A few years ago I got on a bus and as I was walking toward a seat this woman looked at me like she recognized me.

She said, “Do you live in Rogers Park?”

I said, “No, I used to though.”

She replied, “I thought so. I remember you from _____'s store on Glenwood. You used to go in there right?”

I agreed that I had. (I don’t remember the name of the guy who had a second hand store, but I did go in occasionally.)

We talked a bit, and she asked if I might like to get together for a drink. Since she was attractive, I said sure.

As she was leaving the bus she gave me her number and said something like “Great we’ll go out and see how things go.”

That line troubled me. It seemed a little…presumptuous. Ultimately I ended up making excuses and not getting together with her.

A few months later I ran into her again in a bookstore. Again after talking a bit she suggested we get together. I politely said sure, I’ll give you a call (admittedly I had no intention of doing so.) Once again she said something like, “We’ll see how things work out.”

That bugged me, because it seemed like she was getting ahead of things, figuring there would be more than just a date, and I really didn’t want to get involved with somebody in a hurry to find a mate.

We didn’t go out of course, and I actually saw her on the bus again about 3 months later. At that time she was really excited and told me she was getting married! She showed me her ring and told me she’d been seeing this guy for 6 weeks and he proposed. I told her congratulations and good luck and got off at the next stop.

I think I missed out on a real Glen Close relationship there.