The past revisited???

Before I begin my discourse, I'd like to say how wonderful it was to hear from Mama Mouse! Made my Mother's Day complete, that's for sure!

Not too many days ago, I was browsing through the aisles of Wal Mart - had no money to spend, but had lots of time to kill! As I was strolling down the "mouth watering" aisle (stuff I'd like to have, but know I have to continue doing without), I heard a voice say rather falteringly "Is that you, Wease?" I turned around to see a round, butterball of a blue-haired lady, whom I was absolutely sure I'd never seen before in all my put togethers!

I responded with "Er, my friends call me Wease, so I plead guilty!" This rather elderly looking (you understand I mean LOTS older than me) continued by saying "I would have known you anywhere. You haven't changed a bit." (Now, remember I'm still completely in the dark as to who she is or where I might have met her in my disremembered past.)

As a result of the completely blank look on my face (you know, the "deer in the headlights" look), she quickly told me her name. Needless to say, my jaw did a dribbling act on Wal Mart's rather scruffy-looking floor for at least a minute or two as I recalled to myself "This old lady can't be her, I went to school with her!" Then I thought (or rather screamed inside my head) "FIFTY YEARS HAVE GONE BY ALREADY! HAVE I ALWAYS BEEN THIS WRINKLED AND OLD LOOKING? I MEAN, I'VE GOT THE ROAD MAPS OF AT LEAST 3 CONTINENTS ON MY FACE AND NECK! IS THAT HOW SHE RECOGNIZED ME?"

Forgive me for yelling - her statement still rather upsets me! But, I digress!

This lady was one of the "in" crowd all the years of grammar, junior high, and high school. She was the one I always wanted to be, you understand. She was pretty, very popular, came from a wealthy family, had the best clothes, and could have taught "snob school." If I ever were envious of anyone, it was her when I was much younger and a lot less wise! And here she was, right out of the blue as if we had been long, lost friends. She never could find time to talk to me when we were girls, you understand!

I've never done so much er, uh, uhmming in my life! Talk about speechless - I felt as if my tongue were glued to the roof of my mouth with a very special long-lasting super glue!!! She prattled on as if it didn't matter that my brain and my mouth were unable to work in conjunction with each other and explained she was visiting her grand-daughter (who is in the National Guard and will soon be graduating from AIT at the Air Force Base in Huntsville) and was in my town to visit some long forgotten, but lately remembered, relatives in the area.

After a concerted effort to regain my composure, I was finally able to utter something totally earth shattering like "How nice!" (I'm still stinging from YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT!") Oops, sorry, shouting won't help the situation any, will it?

Suddenly, she stopped her continuous imitation of a magpie, took a breath, and said "You must not be the Wease I thought I knew" and turned around and walked off - leaving me there with egg on my face. For a few moments, I gave serious thought to giving in to "Wal Mart Rage" and throttling her! But, I toddled off after her, stopped her, and said "Forgive me, but it is quite a shock to have someone from 50 years ago be able to recognize me when I KNOW I've had to change at least a little bit. After all, I didn't know you from Adam's house cat!"

With that, she huffed and puffed a little bit (I'd rather think she has a breathing problem than she might have been a little bit put off by me) and stated very emphatically "You may think you have changed, but that profile and your chin haven't changed a single bit."

It's only in the past few years in which I recognized the fact that my chin and my pointy nose have become more prominent than ever! Or so I surmised!

We hugged, I apologized for not recognizing her, we promised to keep in touch, and both went our separate ways. I don't expect to ever hear from her again - she now lives in some exotic place in Up State New York!

Micky Finn is traumatized and probably will never look in a mirror again!