Don't we all have memories so painful that we just shudder to even think about them? Well, I suppose I have one I need to share. And, since it just happened a couple of days ago, it is still pretty fresh in my mind.

Now, this is not any real trauma that I experienced ... no horrible emotional pain ... but still a painful experience I will not soon forget.

On Thursday, I went to a community luncheon. Sitting at my table just a couple of seats away was a gentleman who I have known for many years though I have not spent a great deal of time with him. I suppose he is in his early to mid 70's. Basically my parents' age or perhaps a few years older. I know this man mainly because I was in school with his kids. In fact, I was the same age as one of his sons. His son and I spent a lot of time together in high school. He was drum major for our marching band. I played trumpet.

So, I am at lunch and this older gentleman keeps looking at me. We all had name tags and I had made the grievous error of putting my real name on mine. I saw him read my name tag and mouth my name. And then it happened ...

here's what he said ...

"Say, Todd, don't you have a son who was in high school and band with my kids back in the 80s?"

Wow.

To add insult to injury, I had a really tough time convincing him that I was the son, not the dad in this case.

By the way -- the next morning? I slipped and fell on ice in our driveway -- went down hard, in fact. For awhile, I just laid there thinking, "Man, this hurts." It's a wonder I didn't break a hip