Oh, you know them

When moving to a small town (or anywhere really) you will meet lots and lots of new people.
In a small town though, most of them will remember you...and your name, your child, your husband's occupation and possibly your social security number. OK, just kidding about the last one, but, when you are one of very few new people who has moved to town in the last year, it seems as though people know who you are very quickly.
For example, I went into a shop downtown and since I was the only one in the store I said hello to the owner and introduced myself. Within 5 minutes I found out that she had met Paul (he had seen her dogs) and that she knew we were from San Antonio and she asked to see a picture of Emmerich because she had heard how cute she is.
Now, in my opinion, this is a wonderful thing (although I realize that it has its potential drawbacks). I love that I know all of our neighbors and that they all know Em and that everyone is friendly.

However, I have encountered a slight problem. Everyone knows us and everyone knows each other, but I don't seem to recall any one's name. Those of you who know me well know that I am ususally great with names. But apparently when we are talking about a church congregation with the median age of 70 all swarming you at once, my skills fly out the window. Every week Paul and I have discussions about who is who and trying to remember names and every week we fail miserably.

This past weekend I went with a few girls from town to a much needed girls' weekend in New Braunsfuls. We had a lot of conversations that sounded like this:

Girls: "Hearin, do you know the _________s"
Hearin: "Um, maybe, I'm not sure but it sounds familiar"
Girls: "Oh yeah, you know they sit behind the ________s at church"
Hearin: "OK, wait who are the __________s, Are they the tiny couple?"
Girls: "Oh no, that's the ________s..The _________s sit two rows behind them"
Hearin: "Oh, OK, I think I know who you are talking about"
Girls: "Well, anyway, they went to high school with __________ and she was married to ________ who is cousins with _________"
Hearin: "Oh I got it now"

Its kind of like 6 degrees of separation except we really only need 2 degrees. I secretly love it and I think its fascinating how everyone is connected. Every time I have these conversations (after at least 30 minutes of silent processing and nodding like I really know who we are talking about) I feel like I'm getting to know Wharton. And although it may not have a fancy HEB or target, I think its growing on me :) So thanks to the ladies for taking the time to explain who everyone is and for including me in conversations. I love it!

And yes, people in our church sit in the same seat every week. Don't act like its that weird, you probably do it too.