Pepper and I went to Rosa’s Pizza for lunch today. I love that place, and it’s only about 10 minutes away (so close!), and I was in the mood. Anyway, we were sitting there happily eating our pizza and I noticed a group of four older women sitting across the room playing a game of Mahjongg. I snapped a picture over Pepper’s shoulder:
They were saying things like “three bam” and “nine crack”, which I recognized as the names of tiles because I read the rules of the game a few months ago when Zaque requested a Mahjongg game. At the time, he wasn’t able to go out much, and as a missionary he couldn’t watch TV or surf the internet, so he was left with a lot of time on his hands. So he decided to learn Mahjongg.
Anyway, after a while the woman farthest away (facing the camera) called out “Young man? Young man?”
I was a little confused, because I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me. But there wasn’t anyone else in the restaurant, and she seemed to be looking right at me, so I said, “Yes?”
“Are you Cosmo’s son?”
“Umm, what?”
“Cosmo’s son. Are you his son?”
I paused, a little unsure how to answer. “Well, I’m Cosmo…”
It turned out she’s in our church congregation, although I didn’t remember her at all because (1) I probably met her once last October or something, and (2) we haven’t been to church in over five months. Apparently she thought I looked so young that I must’ve been the son of the guy she knew as Cosmo. (And yes, apparently I’m so memorable that despite meeting me only once, she remembered me nearly a year later.)
We all laughed and chatted a bit. She and her friends come to Rosa’s every Monday for their weekly Mahjongg game. As we were leaving, Pepper asked me quietly, “If she thought you were young enough to be your son, who did she think I was?” Maybe my mom, instead of my wife? I reassured her that she doesn’t really look that old, nor do I really look that young…