I’ve still been going downtown everyday to work and get back by 6 pm.

Tonight I met my hubby at a restaurant, it was one of those popular Chinese buffet restaurants with plenty of good food.

While I was picking out some sushi, a lady came up to me, very hesitantly, told me she hated to bother me but wondered if I was an author.

I said, yes, in fact I was.

She looked so relieved. Then she said that she and her family were sitting at the table right next to us and her two daughters were sure they’d seen me come to their school Bowmore P.S.. They’d wanted to come up to me and say hi, but were too shy.

It was so cute.

It’s not the first time this has happened.

Once, when my kids were younger, and we were taking them to the Ontario Science Centre, I was in the bathroom when I saw a girl, about eleven, look at me with excitement. I just went to the sink and started washing my hands, or making wudu (ablutions for prayer) when I heard her say to her friend, quite loud enough for me to hear, “You know Cathy, do you remember when RUKHSANA KHAN came to the school?”

Then she glanced over at me, but I was off in my own thoughts. I thought I heard her say my name, but then I said to myself, “Nah! Can’t be!”

When it comes to things like this I’m actually very obtuse.

So she repeated louder, “Yes! You remember! RUKHSANA KHAN came!”

This time I finally clued in, and I looked over and smiled at her.

She said, “You’re Rukhsana Khan, aren’t you?!”

“Yes.”

And then her and her friend were so excited because they’d met me in the bathroom.

I was rather embarrassed.

I come from a time when you just didn’t meet meaningful grown ups like teachers or … authors, in the bathroom. You just couldn’t imagine that they had to use it!

But that thought didn’t seem to bother these two girls any.

And I left feeling really touched that it was such a big deal to them that they met me in some common place.

Makes me feel a bit like a celebrity!

Yeah right!

Well when I finished picking out my sushi, putting the wasabi in the plate with the pickled ginger and some generous splashes of soy sauce, I returned to our table and waved over at the lady, just in time to notice that the sushi had run out of the plate and splashed across the lower part of my white hijab. 

While I was waving to the two girls who’d recognized me, I was trying my best to dab off the excess soy sauce without being too noticeable.

They were so cute. Smiling and grinning and reminding me so much of that girl in the bathroom of the science centre.

Ah, fans!