Back in the mid 90’s, at some kind of Air Force bigwig gathering at the C-17 plant in Long Beach, a lowly Planner friend of mine was walking along the back wall of the room (to get to the restroom), when Chuck Yeager gets off of the stage in the front of the room, walks clear back to the back of the room and shakes my friends hand, saying “Hi Joe, it’s been awhile”. Seems that a decade earlier, up in Palmdale, Joe often visited the same food joint in town and one day, lo and behold, Chuck Yeager came in looking for a place to sit. He asked Joe if that seat was taken. They had a good conversation. Even sat together a few times on other days. What killed me was the fact that Chuck recognized Joe over a decade later in a totally different setting. He must have an amazing memory bank in his head.
A co-worker’s young teen son used to empty trashcans around the office on Saturdays. I was introduced to him once for all of about 60 seconds and never saw him again until 7 years later at a Home Depot when the kid, now a young man, called me out by name and re-introduced himself.
I wish I had a memory like that.