On Being Recognized and Remembered

We were sightseeing yesterday and visited "White Hall" the restored mansion of Emancipationist, Friend of Abe Lincoln, long time Ambassador to Russia, Cassius M. Clay. I've been on 'the tour' twice before, when my mother and sisters were here early in June, and both of those times I had the same tour guide - a young woman who said "whenever" instead of "when" ("Whenever Lincoln died..." as if it was several times.) So we get in to the tour, just the 3 of us, (it is a nice tour and beautiful building but not really on the main tourist road, so to speak) and there, sure enough, is the same tour guide. I know there are others but I keep getting the same one. (What are the odds? Why can't I win the lottery?) Anyway, as I said, the same tour guide...

"Has anyone been here before?" she asks. I fess up - yes, I was here two months ago - and she looks at me a minute and says "Oh yes, I recognize your shoes!"

Sorry. We couldn't help the little chuckle that escaped before decorum re-established itself. But we got over it; we carried on, and so did she. Over the next 28 rooms or so. Until the 3rd floor. When she finally tried to explain that she only noted them because my mother and I wore the same shoes.

I guess that explained it.

A little bit of Trivia: While it is Seward who gets the credit for the purchase of Alaska from Russia, it was really our own Mr. Clay who brokered the deal with the Tsar.