Mooncakes

It is maybe five years ago and I am sitting in a bar that is masquerading as a Mexican restaurant. I am with a friend but for all practical purposes I am alone. I recognize a man sitting a few tables away as a co-worker from a previous project. Someone I had not seen really at all since I abruptly left the project a year before. I waited for a break in the conversation with my friend which was surprisingly difficult given I wasn't speaking and only partly listening. I walked over to the other table and said "hi jay" and he turned around. I was in full introvert trying to be charming mode and didn't notice right away that Jay didn't recognize me. He didn't recognize me because he wasn't Jay.

This weekend is Mid-Autumn festival (中秋节) which is a major family holiday here. It is the closest thing to Thanksgiving if Thanksgiving had fruit cakes and you substituted mooncakes for Turkeys. Congratulations if you understand that sentence. As a family time, I see a lot of intact families walking around Beijing. Kid's hands in parent's hands, new couples with their parents, and restaurants filled to capacity. I seem to have little to do. The weather is warm and despite the smog, I go for a run. My legs are sluggish and the running app I use is not helping by announcing my pace every mile. I wish it would just lie. After the app announces that I made five miles I run a bit more just to be sure and then I stop and tell the app to stop.

My run over, I am then walking through Ritan park on the way to my apartment. I see someone I know walking towards me with his wife and child. My immediate reaction is to turn left to avoid them but I "stop being so silly" and just keep walking in their direction, being careful not to make eye contact. I am thinking my friend has lost weight and he must have been doing a lot of running. I look up to establish eye contact and say a casual "hello". I have no idea who this person is. I keep walking, relieved.

It gets me thinking about the earlier time with "jay" and whether I have a problem not being able to recognize people. I remember another time when I was sure I saw someone I knew but it wasn't that person. There was something in common about all these times which got me to thinking about mooncakes.