I often refer to living on "the island of Unionville," which means that the odds are really good you're going to know almost everyone you run into at Hood's, the post office or the food store. In fact, it feels odd and disorienting if you don't.
So the other day a non-Unionville friend was telling me about an instructor at the Jennersville Y who teaches a very good (read: tough and no-nonsense) class. She mentioned her first name, and I asked, "Oh. Do I know her?"
She gave me a strange look and said, "How on earth would I know?"
Now, if she were a Unionville resident, she would have said, "Yes, of course" and would have elaborated by telling me something about her family, her hobbies, her friends, where she lived, or her personal life. That would have provided enough of a clue for sure, something along the lines of "Oh, right, YES! She was the woman at the Hunt Cup that really cold year who wore that hat with a stuffed opossum on it!" or "She lives next door to the farm that used to have that hobbit-hole mailbox, until it kept getting smashed."
I had further proof of this just yesterday, when a woman recognized me at a church service. I had been a Christmas tour hostess at her home a few years back and she remembered me because I had graduated from the same central Pennsylvania college her son was just entering. Talk about a good memory!
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