For Mary: Who Got My Name Wrong the First Time, But Remembered It Ever After

This is a picture I did not take of Mary, on her last day at work.

At the ground floor of the building I work in, there’s a small security desk that’s staffed by various people throughout the day. Most of the time, I’m walking by during normal business hours during the work week, and there’s little interaction. I think it’s staffed 24/7, and there’s a more involved process when arriving or leaving after 7PM.

But for the most part, building regulars generally don’t need to talk wtih the security folks.

Last year, I forget exactly when… one of the security guards mention that I reminded them of someone. Posisbly from Facebook. I shrugged it off at the time, and the next day… the guard told me that it was a musician I reminded her of.

Well, me having a doppleganger is not new – and so I mentioned this. And also wondered if the musician she was thinking of was Steve Aoki – which kind of happens to me with some frequency. Steve Aoki is much thinner and much richer than me, so I guess yay for me (though I do wonder if anyone ever mistakes him for me).

I introduced myself to Mary, and that’s how we learned one another’s names. From that day on, Mary remembered who I was and made it a point to say hi to me. And eventually we fell to saying hi to one another.

We never really talked about anything in detail. Our conversations were always in passing, but when I saw her (she worked the first part of the day), we said hello to each other. There may have been some small talk about the building, about some maintenance projects, and things of that nature. But nothing really personal. The most I ever learned is that she has a fiance, but no other specifics beyond that.

A few weeks ago, I learned that Mary was being moved to a different building. The security company was not getting their contract renewed, and so a newer group of people would be taking over. I also found out that she was possibly getting relocated before this, someplace out in Schaumburg. When I brought up the distance between there and here, it sounded like she preferred the suburbs (“people are nicer there,” is what she said to me).

I feel bad that I never asked more about her life, and that I didn’t ask for a photo. It was one of those things where we mostly greeted one another, but didn’t know much about the other beyond our daily routines.

Today was the first day I didn’t see Mary, when I arrived at work. I hope she’s enjoying her new job, and I hope that the people of Schaumburg are, indeed, a little nicer. And I hope her wedding day proves to be as wonderful as she imagines it will be.

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