‘After I Got Into the Cab, the Driver and I Began Chatting’

Familiar Feeling

Dear Diary:

I started traveling to New York City from my hometown, Toronto, in the early 2000s. I would visit once or twice a year, usually with my children. As they have gotten older, I’ve been making my annual trip solo.

On my most recent trip, in November 2024, I stayed near Lincoln Center. When it was time to leave, the hotel doorman hailed me a taxi to take me to the airport.

After I got into the cab, the driver and I began chatting about the delicious smelling rice and oxtail stew his wife had just dropped off for him. He told me we had spoken previously about Indian and Senegalese food. I must have looked confused because he then claimed that he knew me.

I said that my son’s girlfriend was from India and that she had made us a feast for Diwali the year before. The driver nodded and said I had told him that before.

I had not been to New York in a year and was incredulous that this man could possibly have remembered a random conversation with a passenger from 12 months ago.

Then, suddenly, I remembered him, too. He had told me the last time we spoke that he was sending one of his teenage children to live with his parents for a while so they could get to know one another.