“I believe her name starts with a ‘C’,” she mused, stuck in the middle of her sentence. “You know her,” she continued. “She worked at the school when you were still there. Her husband sells real estate. They have two daughters. The oldest is at the University now. She’s doing a semester in Spain. In Granada. I think you had her in your Spanish class,” she looks into my eyes, hoping for a glimmer of recognition.

The conversation comes to a complete stand-still, going down a detour intended to recapture the name of the key character without which the point of the story would be lost. This only increased our determination to identify the subject of her vignette.

“Were her girls on the basketball team?” I interjected, trying to help solve the mystery. “Both really smart kids.”

“Yes, that’s the one. The daughter’s names are Sue and Luann. Sue was in the same grade as my son, but why can’t I remember their mom’s name? We used to be in water aerobics together on Wednesdays and . . .”

“Are you sure it starts with a ‘C’?” I interrupted. “That might be throwing us off.”

“Well, I guess it really doesn’t matter. We both know who we are talking about. I suppose it will come to me in the middle of the night and I’ll have to give you a call,” she finished with a sigh.

“Anyway,” she picked up her story line, and then paused. “I forgot what I was going to tell you! It must not have been very important. This is so exasperating! It’s happening to me more and more these days.”

“Just a minute, before you give up. You were talking about the upcoming fundraiser at your church. You were listing the volunteers already signed up and what they were going to do,” I added, hoping it would rekindle the story.

“Of course,” she continued, rolling her eyeballs toward the ceiling, perhaps expecting to see the answer there, then rerouted her conversation back to the woman whose name began with a “C.”

“We need more help in the kitchen. She is the best. A good cook, organizer and just always knows what to do. I’m hoping she’ll be interested, but I can’t call her if I don’t remember her name!”

“Wait, wait,” I stopped her. “The last name is Isaakson. Her husband is Charles. Charles Isaakson!” My brain now worked backwards using his name.  Charles and… Charles and…”

“I have it!” I exclaimed. “You’re talking about Sharon! His name starts with a ‘C’ and hers starts with an ‘S’!” I clapped my hands together feeling like I had won the lottery.

“Of course, Sharon!” she grinned. “At least that ‘C’ came from somewhere. This brain fog stuff is so exasperating. Lately, I often catch myself with only the first letter of a word as a clue. I’m amazed at how much we all know about someone as we dance around in circles before arriving at that one name we need.” She smiled.

“Well, now you can give her a call and see if she is available to help you,” I offered. “Who else do you have working?”

“The ‘Crafty Ladies’ are handling the Christmas sale section. They are so talented. They do rosemaling, crocheting, quilting and others will do a bake sale. One of them is an expert lefse baker. She has three kids and lives out on the lake. Her husband teaches Drivers Ed. I believe you know her,” she grinned. “I believe her name starts with a ‘C’… “

Looking forward to hearing a story when this happened to you! Please add your experience in the comments.