Mistaken Identity

(Some of the names in the following paragraph have been changed to protect . . . well, not necessarily to protect but to . . . well they have just been changed.)

I can talk to a wall. Ask anyone who knows me, and they'll tell you that I'm not a bit shy. No matter where I am, and especially if I'm by myself, a lot of time I feel compelled to strike up a conversation with someone. Even if that "someone" is a total stranger. Or as in the case last night, someone who isn't a "total" stranger, but someone who I apparently thought I knew but, in fact, only "sort-a-kind-a" knew. Here's the scene: I'm at the grocery store about to get in the check-out line, and this lady is just ahead of me in the same line. She looks at me, smiles, and says "hey". I say "hey" back. I knew she was "someone's" mom, but I couldn't quite remember whose mom she was. So since I knew she had a child in school with mine, I felt bold enough to continue my hello with, "summer's creaping by, isn't it." "Sure is", was her reply. Okay, I should have left it at that. But, nooooo, Miss Have to Talk to Everyone just HAD to continue taking chances and continue my idle chit-chat. "Will "Suzi" be in the 8th or 9th grade this year", I asked. The "mom" looks up and says, "tommy - I'm "tommy's" mom. And "tommy" will be in the 9th." Okay, I made a complete fool of myself. . . I tried to explain, without coming across as too ditsy, that I thought she was "Suzi's" mom. She said she understood, but what else was she going to say, right? Here she is saying hello to me because she actually KNOWS me, and I'm SURE she actually KNOWS who my child is and then here I am PRETENDING to know her and her child.

I've learned my lesson: when in doubt, keep my mouth shut (do I actually believe I'll do that. . . probably not, but at least I'll try to keep the conversation on a non-personal level unless I'm sure of who I'm speaking with.)