Awkward Encounters

A few weeks ago, after I had put my groceries in the back of my van after doing a little shopping and was getting ready to hop in my car to go home, I happened to look over and see someone I thought I recognized getting out of her car in the parking lot. She looked at me a few times and I looked at her a few times.  I hesitated about another five seconds and then called out her name.  We walked over to each other and I said, "I thought that was you!"  She said the same thing back to me.  I had not seen this woman for at least five years, probably more.  We quickly talked about our kids (she asked me if I was a grandmother yet!?!?) and since it was a bit nippy in the parking lot, our conversation was brief.  She and I used to be pretty good friends and we didn't have a falling out or a bad ending to a friendship, it was more like just drifting apart from each other. Have you ever run in to someone that you did have a falling out with? Do you acknowledge them or pretend like you didn't see them and go the opposite direction?  How about when you see someone you recognize, but if you catch their eye, they give you a look like they've never seen you before in their life?  That's happened to me more than a few times.  What do you do if you run into a friend you haven't seen in a long time and can't remember their name?? That's REALLY awkward!!  Earlier this week, my husband was telling me about someone that had written in to "Miss Manners" about when you're in a public restroom, and you witness someone coming out of the stall and just rinse their hands briefly without using soap.  The person writing the letter was thinking of confronting the person about using soap and/or washing their hands properly.  The response back from "Miss Manners" was to not say anything to the person.  I kind of agree.  When I have seen people do that, I just squirt an extra dose of hand sanitizer (that I always have in my purse) into my hands after I leave the restroom.  It's not up to me to be the bathroom "police!"  It's none of my business anyways. The other day I was thinking about an "encounter" I had at the Kroger back in January. An older lady and I were standing next to each other in the bread aisle when I felt a sneeze coming on, but managed to contain it.  That sneeze was following by one that I knew couldn't be kept in. Since I didn't have any Kleenex,  I sneezed into the crook of my elbow and the woman next to me said, "thanks for doing that!"  I was like, "I didn't think you probably felt like being sneezed on!" She looked over at me and then walked away without saying anything back to me. She acted like she couldn't get away from me fast enough!  I thought it was a tiny bit funny :)  Oh well, guess you could sum up that entire experience with one word - AWKWARD!