I was visiting Mama Z "on her cruise ship." That's how my mom describes the senior living community where Mama Z lives. There are over 1500 units--so it's BIG--and the amenities are numerous and luxurious. On Monday night, she has a group of friends that she always eats with. Typically, it's a table of four, but on this night, they had reserved a table of six because there were some new residents they wanted to get to know. Mama Z was hoping only one new resident would come and she could sneak me in, but both newcomers had already confirmed, so Mama Z and I got a table for two. Well, we might not get to eat with her friends, but I could at least meet them, so she took me to the table and started introducing me. The first woman she introduced, I recognized because I had met her on previous visits to Mama Z's. (Thank goodness that the name tags all residents wear are big enough and use a bold enough font that makes them easily read from afar.) We are going around the table, I'm catching some names, I can't hear others, and we get to the last woman and I'm looking at her name tag. "JW?!" I scream. "What'd you say yoour name was, Honey?" she asks. "Theresa Overall," I say. And as we hug the others at the table are confused and laughing. "Where do you know each other from?" they ask. "Girl Scouts!" I say. Julie looks at me oddly. "No. Not Girls Scouts," she says. "Insurance?" she says in the form of a question. "No. Not insurance," I say. And so we stare at each other. Fortunately, after about 30 seconds, it comes to me. "Fretz Park ceramics! Summer 1979. I used to babysit your son!" We then took a selfie and sent it to her son with the message, "Guess who."
Mama Z and I sat down and started to decide what to order when a woman comes towards our table on an electric scooter and needed to get around me. As I scooted my chair, I read her nametag: SJM. I called out her name and then explained, "Theresa Overall. Girl Scouts from a long time ago." She was my trainer in a "Train the Trainer" session in Tejas Council. I don't think she recognized me, but she confirmed that she's the SJM actively involved in Girl Scouts for the last 40 years.
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