Finally realizing where you know someone from after staring at them forever

We’re all bad at names but sometimes faces stick in our brains.

Yes, when you see Familiar Brown-Haired Man walk by the bus stop or Curly Redhead Lady eating fries in the food court you suddenly do a double take and think, “Wait ... I know them from somewhere.”

That’s when you stop chewing your gum, stop talking to your friends, and stop sending blood to nonvital organs. All the tiny men in your head wake up, put on their boots, and fire-pole down to your brain’s dusty archives. Suddenly they’re fishing through files, scanning databases, and booting up old hard drives to comb every neuron you’ve got for trace clues of who you’re staring at.

Photos flash of high school dances, first jobs, and college parties. You imagine beards and mustaches, picture them in ballcaps, or mentally dye their hair blond. Your mind reels through old friends’ girlfriends, people who owe you money, and cousins from the other side of the family you met at a distant wedding.

Or maybe you don’t recognize them for a while simply because they’re out of context. It’s your phys ed teacher squeezing melons at the grocery store, your barber jogging in a jumpsuit at the park, or the office assistant from your old job sweating buckets on the treadmill.

Sometimes it seems like they’re looking at you the exact same way too. You wonder if their little brain men are combing through databases or if they recognize you but just aren’t saying anything. You wonder and wonder and think and think and stare and stare until!

It clicks.

And that’s a beautiful moment of sweet relief. The little brain men slam filing cabinets and cheer, one of them pulls the steam whistle and smoke flies out your ears, and a slow and satisfied smile curls onto your face as you finally place the mystery person.

Then maybe you say hi or something.

AWESOME!