Full Circle

A couple of years ago, I blogged about an incident that occurred in a parking lot involving my car being damaged by another person who opened their car door into mine. The episode, which could have been quickly diffused by a simple apology on her part, erupted into a screaming battle during which she called me crazy, as well as implied that my motive was insurance fraud. It ended with my calling the police to file a report for property damage so that I could pursue her for repairs. I went as far as getting a copy of the police report and getting 2 different estimates for repairing the damage she did. I never actually went after her to pay for repairing the damage.
Fast forward 2 years...
This afternoon, while my daughter was enjoying a playdate with a friend, I ran to Dunkin Donuts to grab an iced coffee so I would have the energy to go to the amusement park this evening with the kids. While in Dunkin Donuts, I struck up a polite conversation with the woman next to me who was buying her own iced coffee and some donuts for her kids. She looked at me and said, "You look very familiar to me, but I don't know where I know you from." I acknowledged that she too, looked familiar to me. We went around a bit, couldn't figure it out, and were letting it go, when I said, "I'm Lisa, by the way." The woman then told me her name and instantly I knew who she was. She was the woman from the parking lot. I told her, "I know how we know each other." And then I told her. She looked at me and said, "No! That wasn't you!" As if anyone else would have known about that incident to mention it. She had concocted an image of me in her mind and today I didn't fit that image. I didn't look like a fraud committing psychopath, I looked like an ordinary woman who likes iced coconut coffee with skim milk.
We agreed that it was unbelievably funny to be meeting this way. And then she asked what happened with my car. I told her I never had the damage repaired and so never sent her the bill. She said, "You need to send it to me. It's a good way for this to end, you really need to send me the bill." She said again, "It's so nice to meet in a good way." To which I replied, "Yes, because now you know I'm not crazy." Her reply...wait for it..."And you know I'm not a bitch!" And then as we parted company, she said, again, "Send me that bill." Maybe I will and maybe I won't, but for sure, I learned something today and so did she. You should really think about how you treat strangers. You just never know when they'll reappear in your life and under what circumstances.