I feel really good right now. A near-stranger I haven't seen in years remembered me.

Back when I was 17 or so, my then-boyfriend and I used to stop at this little hole in the wall pizza place between the bus stop and my family's house. When I turned 18 we got an apartment in the neighborhood where we worked and didn't get back over to this area much. Then I went vegan, so I haven't stopped in to get a pizza in probably 7 or 8 years.

I dropped by tonight to pick up my sister's phoned-in order since she's still healing up her bum knee and can't get in and out of the car easily. As soon as I walked in the guy behind the counter asked me by name if I'd moved back over here, was I with my family... It really made me feel good that somebody I haven't seen in years and who never knew me very well (other than dropping in to eat and having gone to high school with his kid, I'm a stranger) would remember me so well.

I was out a couple weeks ago having a drink when a woman came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. "Lisa?" she said. "Lisa XXXX?" That was me, and I asked her her name. I recognized it because she is a local realtor and I am currently looking for a house. I told her that I knew the name but couldn't for the life of me remember how we knew one another. It turns out that, sixteen years ago, she showed us a single home in a nearby town. We did look at the place two times, but still I was astonished.

It is nice to be remembered, isn't it?