Full Circle

Home for the weekend, I started the day today with a walk to Randy's house three doors down to do something about my eyebrows. (Yes, I can walk to my hair salon. Jealous?) I walked in and greeted Randy, who was working on a client's highlights. This woman and I  immediately struck up a conversation about our experiences in yesterday's storm. As we were chit-chatting, something about her seemed very familiar. Strangely familiar. But this was just a fleeting thought, and I hardly remembered it until two minutes later.

"Maria." This blonde woman whose energy I recognize smiles at me. I realize there's more going on here.

"Maria, do you remember me? From Dr. Woods' office? I used to work on your teeth. Boy, do I remember you."

There it is. The lightbulb goes off. I cannot believe it.

"COURTNEY!!!" I exclaim and she engulfs me in a bear hug.

I had braces from 11-14. Courtney was one of the orthodontist's assistants. Not sure what the exact job title is, but you know who they are. They're the ones who actually do almost everything before the doctor comes in and pokes around your mouth for the last two minutes of the appointment.

Courtney wasn't just another assistant. As far as I was concerned, an appointment during which I wasn't assigned to Courtney was an appointment wasted. I completely idolized her. I don't know what it was. Something about her disposition made me feel special, like she was happy to see me too. She was absolutely hilarious. She involved me in her life. Twenty-five at the time, about twelve years older than me, she was kind of like a big sister that I got to see once a month.

When I was thirteen, her boyfriend proposed to her. I still remember it. I remember gawking at her ring, a beautiful silver band with three tiny spherical diamonds. I remember that she was glowing. I remember smiling because I could see how happy she was. I remember when she looked at me in all of my childlike fascination and laughed. "Someday," she told me. "And I better meet him first!" She joked.

Today, she showed me pictures of her beautiful redheaded two year-old. She and her husband just celebrated their sixth anniversary. She's in her early to mid-thirties. Still just as I remembered her.

I stayed for a half hour, soaking up these moments of my past. This connection that even I had forgotten all about. How beautiful it is when someone can remind you of yourself. Courtney remembers me in a way that I cannot.

While I have memories of Courtney, she has even stronger memories of me. She said she remembers Joey crying when he couldn't come back and sit with me during my appointment. She remembers my long, flowing hair in braids. She remembers my nerves when I began high school. But I certainly didn't expect to hear this as I left the salon today. Actually, she said it twice: "Hun, I always knew you would do big things."

Was I really that important to her? She had complete faith in me? I was twelve or thirteen. That's something you usually tell your daughter or little sister, not some little girl you joked around with almost a decade ago.

All of our lives are so intricately woven. Like a spiderweb, our paths resemble strands that diverge and connect and intersect at times. After my braces came off, I never saw Courtney again, until now. I don't even remember if I was able to say goodbye way back then.

For anyone who has ever read and loved "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," you may understand how I feel. This story may seem trivial, but it feels so sacred. Here is a woman who, although essentially a stranger, believed in me. She holds a piece of me inside of her, whether I knew it or not. She knows my gap-toothed grin and my baby face. She watched me grow. And I am so happy to have intersected with her today, to have been reminded that while the world is small, those whispers from the past always seem to come back around.

But this time, without the braces.