Prosopagnosia.
I have a medical condition called Prosopagnosia. Before you offer me your deepest thoughts and prayers or go off to start a GoFundMe Page, it's not such a terrible thing.
I'm Face Blind. I am often unable to recognize the faces of people I may know, especially when I see them out of context.
I never knew Face Blindness was a thing until someone I'd known for years once failed to recognize me in the supermarket such that I wondered "Does he think he owes me money such that he's cold shouldering me?"
"It's me, Perry Block," I said, "and you don't owe me bupkis!"
"I'm sorry, Perry," he replied. "You see, I'm Face Blind. I never forget to never forget a face!
I'm still trying to map out that sentence.
But then I realized I'm a little Face Blind too. Unless someone has very distinguishable features I may easily run into a person in the gym I've hung out with in a night school class I've taken for the past six weeks and not know who they are.
Fortunately I can solve that problem by never going to the gym or taking any more night school classes.
`But I never quite realized how bad my Face Blindness had become until last week when I ran into a woman on the street who greeted me warmly.
"Hi ya, Perry!" she said. "Gee, it's been a while since I've seen you."
"Oh shit!" I thought, I knew she looked familiar but I couldn't quite place her. What to do, what to do? I racked my brain. Finally I just had to say:
"It is good to see you after all this time, but I'm afraid I'm drawing a blank. How do I know you?"
"Perry," she said softly, "it's Gwen. We were married for 7 years."
"Yes, we were! Of course! And it was a great 7 years!"
"Yeah, it was. Except for those days when you would come home after work, come to the door, and say "Who the fuck are you?!!"
Yep.
Face blindness.
Maybe a GoFundMe page wouldn't be a bad idea?
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I've posted this picture because it shows how Face Blindness works. Also because for those who've never met me, I do look exactly like Brad Pitt.
