SURPRISE!

About 25 years ago, while I was shopping in a department store in Atlanta, a man called me by name, gave me a bear hug and said, “What a wonderful surprise running into you. It’s been years. You haven’t changed a bit!  How are you?” Backing away from him, I told him that I was fine, my husband was fine and my son was just fine, and then asked him, “How long has it been since we last ran into each other?”

He said, “Well, it’s been at least eight years. You know that seven years ago we got a divorce.” “No,” I replied, “I didn’t know that.” I didn’t know whether to say, “I’m sorry to hear that” or not. After all, it had been seven years.

The bear hugging man proceeded to tell me about his job and his son and other news such as, “You may have noticed that I grew a mustache.”  It wasn’t much of a mustache, so I didn’t think it called for much of a response, so I just nodded my head.

Finally, when he stopped to take a breath, I quickly jumped in with, “It, has really been something running into you after all of these years, but I have to go now. By the way, we are moving to Arizona, so I guess I won’t see you again.”

 He laughed and said, “What a coincidence. Sometimes I have business in Arizona. Maybe, one of these days I’ll surprise you again.”

I have been in Arizona for twenty-one years now, and to this day, I still have no idea who that man was, but if he shows up in Tucson, I can promise you, I won’t recognize him all over again. Surprises can be like that.

Esther Blumenfeld (“Live long enough and you will see everything.”) Fagel Blumenfeld