I'll Never Forget Old What's His Name

 Almost everything has a downside. Take, for example, our 60th High School reunion scheduled for May 9th.

What?

A downside to getting together with our old friends from high school and reliving those days when we were all young and beautiful...and smart as Hell?

Yep.

Remembering the names of all those unforgettable friends !

54 Class Officers Max Evans on right

Say for example, you are talking to one of your best and most memorable friends you haven't seen in 60 years.....and as the two of you start laughing about some obscure happening in history class in 1952...you suddenly realize that you can't think of his name!

I know what I'm talking about. The last time we had a reunion, Max Evans and I were in the middle of some such deep remembrance and I interrupted the conversation to introduce Max to my wife Linda.

Max Robinson

It dawned on me days later that I had introduced him as "Max Robinson."

(Max Robinson was the first black man to anchor an evening TV network news program. A fellow I
had worked with in the early 60's.)

Max Evans was not only a President of the Class and a star on the Football team...and I botched his name!  He was too nice to correct me.

I can't wait to see him in a couple of months and apologize.

Who knows what other names I mangled or forgot completely.

(Answer: All those whose names I screwed up.)

THE SOLUTION

Here's a trick that might work:

Whenever you walk up to one of our long ago classmates, pronounce YOUR name first.

"Hi... Ed Myers..."

and the response will usually be, "Hi... Max Evans....how are you, Ed....."

That way he is now certain of YOUR name......and YOU know HIS name......

Great solution, right?

Well, most of the time.  But one time when I did that, the conversation went like this:

Me: "Hi... Ed Myers.......
 
Response:   "That's not my name....you've confused me with someone else..."

I never did learn his name. And he never learned mine.

Like I said, almost everything has a downside.

-Ed