Hello My Name Is ______

His name tag said hello my name is _______

Along with all the others here for this reunion

All wearing muted ties with yellowed skin and slackened jaws they walked the room.

Some with tall champagne glasses

Others with stiff whisky that swills around and spills on your hands letting a pungent smell into the air.

Blue and red name tags

Everyone has a profession

Some have even added “hello my name is ______ and I work as a _________.

Can you imagine?

He wanted to be an astronaut, but he didn’t have good eyes

And unfortunately he was not that dedicated.

Her, in the corner, she dreamed once of being a writer but instead she writes ads for the newspaper.

He never did find someone to love

And they all have name tags and they all walk through, shoulders back and trying to seem proud of who they have become.

Hoping that no one will notice the silent apology they are saying for being quite so ordinary.

April 24, 2018

A Short Conversation is a collection of stories, thoughts, and general musing. I like to write like I'm slamming a door; loudly, and with purpose.

65 Comments on “Hello My Name Is ______”

  1. Deepak Kumar Behera May 13, 2018 at 5:46 am

    Nice….but till now I never attended a single reunion party

    Reply
  3. Nurdin May 13, 2018 at 2:32 am

    Amazing

    Reply
  5. bethlovesblue May 11, 2018 at 4:40 pm

    Wow! I just really love this.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:23 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  6. DoveWhite May 11, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    I love how you write and I thought that this is true for me. People at my school don’t care who I am and just shove past me. I don’t even think that people at my school will care if I go to my school reunion. I’m glad you went because It need to be done. Because you lose contact with people you met in your school days.

    Reply
  8. Angie May 10, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    “Hoping that no one will notice the silent apology they are saying for being quite so ordinary”…I love this last line. I think it truly encapsulates your title. The idea is that people are supposed to remember one another. Why start with a name tag? Such is life. Nice work!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:23 pm

      Thank you! so happy you enjoyed it <3

      Reply
  9. Vartika May 10, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    This is so beautifully painful. Those are the only two words that came in my mind – beautiful and painful.

    Reply
  10. Jess Stranger May 10, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    There is no need for a reunion when most everyone I went to school with blasts their life on their social media, with which I am connected. But! Everything you wrote is the reflection of a life people stay in to feel some sense of certainty. I say, to hell with it, there is nothing more certain in life than uncertainty itself. Embrace it! I don’t hope I’ll never be like this, I just damn well work and strive to never be like this. It just isn’t for me. A good reminder, here. Thank you!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:24 pm

      thanks for reading :)

      Reply
  11. Styx Skylar May 10, 2018 at 4:30 pm

    I loved it! Excellent piece of writing!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:24 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  12. Mercy May 10, 2018 at 11:04 am

    This is beautiful from a fellow blogger

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:24 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  13. lvdydee May 9, 2018 at 6:58 pm

    Very beautiful! My reunion is coming up soon and I’m sure all I’ll be thinking about is your poem. Keep up the great work!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:24 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  15. Valerie Cullers May 9, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    I think we all feel that way…the dreams of youth give way to the reality of adulthood. Good observation and great post!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm May 13, 2018 at 5:25 pm

      thank you :)

      Reply
  18. Tabob365 May 9, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    So true!

    Reply
  19. admjanse May 9, 2018 at 10:43 am

    So beautiful and strong. <3

    Reply
  20. Krithika May 9, 2018 at 10:14 am

    It’s heartbreaking how our starry-eyed childhood selves grow up to be such boring individuals. It’s amazing you managed to bring that out so poignantly!

    Reply
  21. yagneshthakore May 9, 2018 at 10:02 am

    I always look forward to the reunion eagerly. Sixty one years after graduation, none of us needs to wear a name tag,we recognize each other immediately, that has been the bond of our friendship. I live in India while all my friends are Germans.

    Reply
  22. julietmorris May 9, 2018 at 9:19 am

    This really inspired my creativity :)

    Reply
  23. Joel F January 28, 2016 at 3:47 am

    Beautifu. Thanks for dropping by my blog. You write beautifully.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm January 28, 2016 at 7:13 am

      Thanks for stopping by Joel:)

      Reply
  24. sarahlearichards January 14, 2016 at 4:11 pm

    Never had any desire to go to a reunion, not even if I became a best-selling author. Made most of my real friends after high school. :)

    Reply
  25. stevolom January 11, 2016 at 8:56 am

    A wonderfully precise and explicit piece of writing. The name tag and tie colour details reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk’s prose, but where he uses these kinds of details as a backdrop to the results of the enormously fractured psyches of his fantastically broken characters, you deliver a much more personal and universal pain. Instead of presenting monstrously effected people to subjectively observe, you deliver an immediately recognisable situation that allows for your last stanza to deliver an almost accusatory punch to the gut to some of the most closely guarded and intimately held feeling so common to so many – lost, abandoned or thwarted ambition.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm January 11, 2016 at 9:23 am

      Thanks so much! I love the way you really delved into what the piece meant to you, and obviously any and all comparison to Chuck is taken as the highest of flatteries.

      Reply
  26. P.R. Hilton January 4, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    Perfect, fragile, yet beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm January 4, 2016 at 1:09 pm

      thank you for reading :)

      Reply
      1. P.R. Hilton January 7, 2016 at 5:06 pm

        It is a pleasure to read your work:)

  27. amsasvi December 22, 2015 at 10:40 am

    Well written and quite true :)

    Reply
  28. Black Sky Voyages December 22, 2015 at 9:33 am

    Poignant, deep, and poetic.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm December 22, 2015 at 9:42 am

      Thank you :) glad you enjoyed it

      Reply
  29. Reblog Tuesday | The Writing Blog of Steven Harz December 22, 2015 at 8:53 am

    […] //ashortconversation.com/2015/12/17/hello-my-name-is-______/ […]

    Reply
  30. Matt On Accident December 21, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    You make me very, very glad that I never went to a single reunion!👍

    Reply
  31. Jim Noonan December 19, 2015 at 5:12 pm

    Reblogged this on The Daily Driver and commented:
    Though I was hoping it would end with a glimpse of the beauty of “ordinary,” it’s an affective piece, nonetheless.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm December 19, 2015 at 9:37 pm

      Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  32. naushilmehta December 18, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    Go kill the fly on his nose. Teach me to write Miri.
    Here’s a swatter .Miri Elm for you everyone, clap clap clap bow bow bow .
    Love your post

    Reply
  33. strugglingwriter December 18, 2015 at 10:24 am

    I really like this unique take on the reunion.

    I attended my first reunion last Summer. It went really well actually. Cathartic. I think being far enough away from High School helped immensely. The large quantities of beer probably helped too.

    Reply
  34. RTW December 18, 2015 at 9:44 am

    This is likely accurate for many reunions!

    Reply
  35. uniquelyprudz December 18, 2015 at 6:03 am

    loved the last sentence, reunions are a regretful matter

    Reply
  36. mescalime December 17, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    Very well written! Can see my reunion…

    Reply
  37. daviddiamondblog December 17, 2015 at 2:17 pm

    // how come u get loads of comments? // i get nothing. // only likes // likes i like tears // i don’t them .//. comments and follows // thats what i need . and love. // thank you xz

    Reply
  38. dray0308 December 17, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    So cool, I felt like I was walking the room with you!! Way to paint a picture in my mind!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm December 17, 2015 at 1:13 pm

      Thanks for commenting, I really like your blog as well :)

      Reply
      1. dray0308 December 17, 2015 at 1:47 pm

        Thank you so much! I really felt like I was at a reunion walking along with you as you described them. Like we were ghosts mingling unseen as you told me there inner stories. So very cool.

  39. Craig December 17, 2015 at 11:13 am

    Depressing but also a reminder to keep pushing. Great character building, creating believable people in two lines, well done.

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm December 17, 2015 at 11:21 am

      Thanks craig, glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  40. Mahitha Kasireddi December 17, 2015 at 10:50 am

    So well expressed. I’ve always argued about people not following their dreams. This is so well written, thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm December 17, 2015 at 11:45 am

      Thank you Mahitha, glad you enjoyed it :)

      Reply
  41. Yusra Gulab Jamman 🍰 🐒 December 17, 2015 at 5:18 am

    “He wanted to be an astronaut, but unfortunately he wasn’t that dedicated…” / “She wanted to be a writer, but instead she writes ads for the newspaper…”

    Really poignant and heartbreakingly real. Makes you want to chase your dreams harder after reading ❤️

    Reply
  42. Sanghamitra December 17, 2015 at 2:17 am

    While reading this I could picture the scene…

    Reply
  43. daisywillows December 17, 2015 at 1:41 am

    I will never go to a reunion. Sounds so depressing.

    Reply
  44. daviddiamondblog December 17, 2015 at 12:59 am

    // reunion? i don’t even go to important things in my life // i like your blog. i love how feminine it is. // blog on\off\on . // thank you xz

    Reply
    1. Miri Elm December 17, 2015 at 8:16 am

      thank you :)

      Reply

Leave a Reply

If you liked this story, you may also like:

%d bloggers like this: