srah blah blah

Jill blah blah

My family and I went to the graduation party of a family friend today. Our families are friends because our mothers were in the same Mothers' Group before Nathan and I were born, then both Nathan and I and Becky and Galen (the graduate) went to nursery school together. We saw each other at Halloween every year for quite a while, but drifted apart as we got older. We still exchange Christmas cards and get updates on what they're doing, and invite each other to graduation parties.

I'm not sure if he had any say in the decision, but about 18 or 19 years ago, Nathan and I were going to get married. The fact that he's my ex-fiancé only makes our conversation more interesting.

He came over to our table to say hi, my mom asked him what he was doing, and he talked about his life in NYC for a while. Then he turned to me.

"So what are you doing now, Jill?"

"I'm-" Suddenly I realized the name tacked onto the end of the previous question. Should I correct him? Did he think I was someone else or had he just forgotten my name? Had I misheard?

Instead of being cool (I had been feeling cool, anyway) and giving him the well-thought-out repetitive answer I've been giving to everyone, Nathan got a specialized, individual answer:

"What? Sarah. What? I graduated. I just graduated. I'm Fr-I'm going to teach French. Next year. I'm going to teach English in France. Assistant teach. What?"

I don't think he caught on that he'd called me by the wrong name. I spent the rest of the evening trying to avoid having to talk to him. Excellent.

I don't know why I was embarassed, since he was the one who forgot my name. Maybe it's the embarassment of being forgettable...

srah - Sunday, 2 June 2002 - 11:20 PM
Tags: names, nathan, stories

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