“Kelly?”, I asked the rather startled lady running around with drinks and food for everybody who had gathered around the big outside patio and bar area on the fifth floor of the JW Marriott in Marco Island.

“Yes?”, the lady replied in a muffled sort of way from behind the mask but clearly confused about why I was asking that question.

“You may not remember me. Let’s try this..”, I said, as I removed my mask.

“Oh! Raj! Westin!”

“Indeed”

You see, right behind my office in Itasca (suburban Chicago) is the Westin I often stay in. And Kelly used to work there before the pandemic hit. During pandemic, she found a job in the JW Marriott in Marco Island and moved there. And that is exactly where I was vacationing with Sharmila!

***

To be fair, this was not sheer luck. I could not have recognized Kelly with her mask on. There is a backstory to this.

Two weeks back, I was in the Westin hotel and sitting at the bar talking up Janice and Tom – the two folks who have helped me there for the last few years. Janice and I were catching up on our families when I mentioned that my wife and I had lined up a few vacations to make up for Covid time. She mentioned how she wanted to visit Florida and visit an old friend from Westin who has moved there.

“Who is it?”

“Remember Kelly?”

“Yes.”

“She has moved to Marco Island.”

“Really? I am going to be there in 2 weeks time with my wife. I have never been there.”

“You will love it. She works in the Marriott there. Beautiful property.”

“Wait a minute. Which Marriott?”

“JW”

“No way! That is where I will be staying. I will be sure to meet her!!”

***

Now roll forward a couple of weeks. I am back at the Itasca Westin after a day’s work. Dropped my suitcase and all that in the room and went straight to the bar to catch up on some dinner.

Janice saw me from a distance and waved at me.

“I have something for you!”

“I have a vague idea what it might be!”

And that is when she went inside and got my sunglasses out for me.

***

You are probably wondering what is the thread joining all this, right? Well, the day after I met Kelly was the day we were checking out. And I suddenly realized that I was missing my sunglasses. Went around the hotel and reported to the authorities to let me know if they ever find it.

And reluctantly drove back to the airport, all the time squinting in my left eye in the bright Florida sunlight.

Before jumping on to the plane, I left a note for Kelly that I was missing my sunglasses. I was not sure I would ever get it back. I left a voicemail at my eye-doctor’s too. Those were prescription glasses and I can’t simply just walk in and get myself a new one. Since I have very high numbers (negative 8.5), it takes time to make those glasses.

The flight from Fort Myers to Atlanta had no wifi connection.

“Que sera, sera”, I said to myself and just settled down.

By the time I got down in Atlanta, there was a message from Kelly. Which made it crystal clear to me what had happened to my sunglasses.

The previous evening, Sharmila and I were sitting at the bar and talking about the kids and her mom in India. Before signing off, I was trying to take a picture of us. I used the sunglass cover as a support for my iPhone while setting up for a time-delayed picture.

Eduardo – who was serving us – and in the previous days had given us a few tips on what to do when we visit his motherland Colombia had coming running around and offered to take the picture for us. Which he did.

And he handed my phone back to me. I admired the pictures he had taken (which is a difficult thing to do since my picture was also there). And completely forgot about the sunglasses which I had carefully positioned.

Eduardo realized my mistake later but was not aware that I was checking out the next day. He had kept it for safekeeping to give it back to me. Of course, I never showed up.

Kelly picked it up from him.

And this is where my lucky break comes. Kelly had mentioned that she would be back in Chicago to close out on selling their house and finish up her chapter there.

While there, she came by her old work place and handed my long lost sunglasses to Janice.

And that is how I was reunited with my sunglasses!!

***

“Janice, can I take a picture of you with the sunglasses? I want to show it to my wife and kids. They always make fun of me for making friends with strangers. I want them to know that I would not have found my sunglasses but for that!”

That was an interesting set of connections – involving two cities, two hotels, two bartenders, one set of sunglasses and one person never ceasing to be awed by the personal stories of people he chances upon!!

“You have to explain to me the ink”, I asked the young lady who brought our food out.

It was a glorious sunny day as John and I sat down in the patio of Sunset Grille on Lake Allatoona after riding our motorbikes there. We had placed our order and were catching up on our families when the aforementioned lady got us our lunch.

Which is when I noticed the tattoo on her right arm. Tattoos are great ice breakers for me. Almost everybody has a story behind every tattoo they have. Sometimes remembering somebody near and dear, sometimes a life philosophy and sometimes “just because”. It has always been a great story telling topic for me. In full disclosure, I have stories myself but no tattoo.

In any case, the lady started telling the story about how she and her dad has the same tattoo and then went into further describing how she got it. And at every step, my memory cells were getting excited. Because the story was sounding very similar to somebody else Sharmila and I had once met.

I had to stop her – “Wait a minute! Do you know Courtney?”

“Mr. Roy, I AM Courtney!!”

Holy cow! I had absolutely not recognized her!

The back story is the following – Last summer, during Covid times, Sharmila and I used to come regularly to this spot, grab some food and sit by the dock. We had befriended Courtney then who had waited upon us. I think we met her a couple of times when she let us know that she was moving to St. Simon’s to study there. We were, of course, excited that she was going to pursue higher studies. And somewhat sorry that we won’t meet a familiar face again.

Thru Facebook though, Courtney and I had kept in touch. In fact, that is how I had found out that she would be back in Atlanta for the summer and was going to work again in Sunset Grill before going back to St. Simon’s again.

When I had walked in, I had indeed asked the lady in the front if Courtney was around. She told us that Courtney would be coming in for the evening shift.

So, I was not expecting to see Courtney at all! Turns out, she was there. And she had recognized me. Even though it was not her table, she had brought out the food for us!!

Man, I am getting old! Cannot recognize faces!! But I am glad she had recognized me.

It was great to reconnect with Courtney. We even took a picture before we left.

Hope to go back there soon with Sharmila again.

There have been a few hits and misses with this family…
In 2017, met Tapas and Jhumpa at a common friend’s place in Kolkata. But Bijin did not come.
In 2019, I went to Oman (where they live) for work but they were visiting India. (perhaps, got wind of the fact that I was coming!)
In 2020, Bijin joined our company as an intern but he was working from Purdue and I was working from Atlanta.
Finally, in 2021, managed to meet all of them together in Chicago!!

Nearly six years back, Harish had walked up to me at a industry conference and introduced himself as somebody who I had apparently done a training class for in my first job (nearly 30 years back). I had not recognized him but was very impressed with his memory.

Caught up with him again today! I did not realize that he is an avid chess player and a teacher too! We had a great discussion on how much of chess is intelligence versus memory (pattern recognition).

Also, got a lot of tips on how to swim (I am terrible at it).

But the best part was remembering the days in COSL. One of the best company cultures we had every worked in!

Last time I saw Prabasaj-da in school was 1984. Then almost thirty years later, ran into him unexpectedly at our local Durga puja in Atlanta. In spite of promising to see each other again, somehow life got in our way. Next time I saw him was seven years later at a coffee shop.

We set a target to meet with the family after Covid vaccinations. Fortunately, within six months or so, we were able to get the families together. I had not seen Kathleen since the Durga Puja either. We went to Wolf Mountain Vineyards to grab lunch and have some chat time outside.

The weather was gorgeous and the north Georgia mountains were beautiful.

But the highlight of the meeting was Aliya – who I had not seen before. She kept us thoroughly entertained and engaged. Not to speak of the time when she split us into two teams and then when asked “What are we supposed to do?”, she sheepishly admitted – “I have not thought this one thru”!!

Loved her intellectual curiosity and playfulness!

30 years… 7 years… half-a-year… I think we are trending the right way!!

“My marriage is totally legit!!” she exclaimed.
“No, it is not. I have never heard of getting married thru proxy.”
“I am telling you. Look it up.”

That was the most excited I had ever seen Sydney in the time that I had gotten to know her. Very quiet and even keeled, I had rarely seen her that animated before.

She was one more of those folks at Barrel House Coffee Company that I loved meeting every time I dropped by for coffee. The staff there – Kevin (and his socks!), Tim, Autumn, Baylee, Allison… are simply outstanding. Very friendly and always makes you feel at ease. True southern hospitality that you would expect from a small rural town called Ballground in Georgia.

So, I did Google up “proxy marriage”. And apparently, it is a thing. You can get married in certain states in the USA without one of the spouses being present. (In one particular state, both can be absent!). Turns out Sydney’s husband – Jack – is in military service and did not make it.

However, the good news was that her husband was coming in to Ballground from his service in a few weeks and they were both going to drive to Tacoma, WA where he was getting relocated and they were going to start their lives together.

A couple of days before they left, I had asked her if she would be open to sitting down with me and telling me her life story. She readily agreed.

What an eye opening exercise it was!! I had no idea beneath that calm and composed exterior how much of life ordeals she had been thru. Most of it is too private for me to publish in a public story but an example would be she telling me growing up as a toddler wondering at times why she could meet her mom only once a week. That too in a church. Unlike any other friend of hers. Turns out her mom had lost custody – some entanglement with drugs, jail, missed court appointment etc. The poor mom – who went thru depression and was bipolar – had a very disturbing and difficult life herself, it seemed.

Meanwhile, as Sydney and her siblings bounced around between step moms and all that, the grandparents seemed to offer an oasis of support. “My grandma is like my mom in my life”, she summarized.

Allow me to fast forward thru some of the private details – parts of which were difficult for me to hear as I had flashbacks of my own daughters.

“So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“I love coffee. I am fairly creative. I think I want to be a barista”
… and after some more thought, added -“Perhaps open up a coffee house some day, like this.”

As my slotted hour was coming to an end, I had to ask her one of my usual questions….

“So, what should l learn from your life?”
Sydney, characteristically, kept quiet for a few seconds and slowly came out with the answer:

“You are capable of more than what you think. You can always be a good person. No matter how the other person is, what you want to be is your personal choice”.

I have to admit that I was taken aback by the sagacity and wisdom of words from the mouth of a twenty-something-year old!!

Sydney Haynes Gobble, here is wishing you a safe and exciting cross country trip and a great journey in life. I have no doubt you will make something great out of your life. We will surely be there to cheer you up from the sidelines!!

——

P.S. At the time of going to press with this post, I found out that Sydney has indeed landed herself a job as a barista in Washington state! Yay!!

Earlier this month, you might remember that I had dinner with Kristin and Dan when I was vacationing in Clearwater with my friend Avi. During that dinner, Kristin had mentioned that they were going to vacation as a family at the Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee a couple of weeks later.

Guess what? Sharmila and I came out to meet both of them again. This time at the beautiful Ritz property. The lake looked great with temperatures in high 70s!

Went to Taffer’s Tavern for the first time with Sunjay Talele. Met an old friend – Leigha Leavell there. I had run into her last time in Firefly. Also made friends with Tanner Berns. Coincidentally, Tanner had played lacrosse with Sunjay’s son in middle school!