Everybody Knows Your Name

The old TV show Cheers has a song with the phrase about being a place where "everybody knows your name." I caught a glimpse of that show yesterday while flipping channels on the TV.

There have really only been two times in my life that I frequented bars where everybody knew my name. The first time was in college, Emma's Bar, and the second time was a few years back in Tom's Bar, where hubby and I did the weekly Friday night meat raffle. It's kind of unique, I guess, that both of these bars have a person's name in their title, unlike other bars around (i.e. The Pour House, St. Croix Grill, etc).

I was reminded of this phrase last night as we had a couple of neighbors come over to play cards and we were talking about what's happening with our neighbors. It was not gossip, it was catching up on people's lives. As mentioned before, we live in a gated community of "friends 55 and over," so there is usually a monthly party at the clubhouse. Therefore you truly get to know your neighbors or at least their name. Working full time is not conducive to hearing about your neighbors, so it was quite a catch-up session for me, hearing about this person's trip and that person's car accident.

It feels good to be part of a community and know so many neighbors, I have experienced that only a couple of times in my life, my childhood in Cushing and a few years back in our Mudhen Lake Drive community. Based on my calculations of the bars and communities I have lived in where everybody knew my name, I had over twenty years in between childhood/college and Mudhen Lake where I was not known by name. But wait, those were the years that my community of friends were at my job or my church. Playing in softball leagues with members of my work or church, going out after work for drinks or going out for dinner, or participating at an in-home Bible study. I still found a way for everybody to know my name.

I dreamt this morning that I was leaving my present job and packing up my office. Of course, I found things stuck in my credenza drawers that brought back memories of this work event or that work event. The staff joked with me and recalled their memories too, basically saying, "we'll remember you, Rayna, we won't forget your name."

Yes, everybody knows your name! The everybody may be a family, a work place, a church, a favorite hang-out or a housing complex. I consider myself a lucky person that I have atleast one of those "places" or groups of people to go to that know my name.