Chapter Two--Unforgettable

An osprey just carried a fish to the window to show me….very nice! At least he’s not like a cat bringing mice to show me! The weather person just reported the air temperature is 88 above zero, which will really help with warming the pool water.

Yesterday Justin called me when he was working and we had a long chat. He was telling me B & B Movers was moving their office again, and he asked me if I was going to use Sabin’s condo in Turkey. Sabin owns the moving company and moved us many many times over the years. He offered me his condo if I travel that direction again, but I have no intention of doing that, greatly appreciating the offer.

Sabin had told me earlier this year that his brother, now living back in Turkey, had asked about me. Justin then used the phrase that always make me laugh, “You remember me, eh?” with an Italian accent, referencing something that happened to me a few years ago.

In 2004, I had gone to Epcot by myself while Justin and his friend attended a Magic Card event, and I dined at the Italian restaurant for lunch. I had a lovely conversation with the young server, Giovanni, talking about jet skis and my planned trip to Italy later in the summer and so on.

So, go forward the two months to when Justin and Alayna were with me, and again dined for lunch at Italy. We joked a bit about whether we would see Giovanni or not, hardly expecting to since they have a great many folks working there, various shifts, and so on. Toward the end of our meal, here came this dashing young man up to our table to greet me, “You remember me, eh?” YES!!!! I remember you!!!!! Alayna about dropped her teeth, a young, teen-aged girl seeing this handsome Italian man, talking to her auntie. I got my picture taken with him this time, for posterity. We still can’t get over it because really, how many thousands of people have passed through that restaurant in two months’ time??? And he remembered me???

I reminded Justin about how the waiter on the Galaxy cruise ship we sailed on in 2006 for his graduation trip, remembered me. This is even stranger than Giovanni, since this cruise ship goes out so frequently with, again, thousands and thousands of people a year. Justin and I had taken the cruise in 2004 with the same ship, the Galaxy. I recognized one of the waiters but he had not been our waiter at all, and after all, two years had passed….Well, about mid-way through the 2006 trip, the waiter came up and greeted us, saying, in his accent, “You wear your hair the same!”. Unreal! How in the world???

Yesterday, then, Justin went on to say, in his inimitable fashion, round about-style: “You know Spanish people think all white people look alike and vice versa? And Asian people think we all look alike, and vice versa”? Cautiously, I agreed, wondering where he was going with that. He said, “Well, there are Spanish people, and Black people, and Asian people, and white people---and they all look alike. And then there’s Kim—people remember you!” Now, was that a compliment or what? Tough one….We still laughed about it, no matter if it’s complimentary or not.

After we hung up, I remembered another situation, when visiting Pompeii in 2006. Twila, Jean, and I had taken a cruise with Jean’s family in 2005 and revisited the ruins of Pompeii at that time. When Justin and I were there in again 2006, I got tired so I came down before Justin did and was looking at the shops near the base of the hill. The bistro nearby was where the cab drivers and bus drivers waited for their return passengers. Sure enough---I recognized the driver from the previous year’s bus trip to Pompeii with Twila and Jean. I looked at him, and he looked at me, but then, he did a double take and gave a little wave. When I mentioned it to Justin he said, “You remember me, eh?”