I DIDN’T RECOGNISE my friends

Samantha always wondered why she had trouble placing people she knew

Walking down the road with my then husband, I noticed a woman beaming at me.

‘Hi Samantha. How are things?’ she asked.

I was bewildered. She clearly seemed to know who I was but I couldn’t place her at all.

‘Sorry, who are you?’ I asked, confused.

‘You had my husband and I over to dinner last week,’ she replied, stunned.

‘Oh, of course,’ I said, embarrassed.

Afterwards my husband turned to me, concerned.

‘How could you not remember her?’ he asked, reminding me we’d talked to them for hours in our own home. Though I could recall that, I didn’t recognise her out of church, where we normally saw them.

For some reason, I rarely recognised people if they were out of context.

In my early 30s, after that I’d smile at every person I met, just in case I knew them. I didn’t want people to think I was snubbing them.

One day a woman in the street began chatting to me. ‘How was your summer?’ I asked, desperately searching for clues as to who she was.

After a nice conversation I went home, still wondering. It was three hours before I realised she was my neighbour, who I’d lived next door to for years. Sometimes, I never worked out who a person was.

While I enjoyed movies, I had a problem following them. The brunettes all looked alike, as did the blondes. And I could rarely recall whether I’d seen a lm or not – or anything about it!

When I was 43 my rst marriage ended and, three years later, I married Scott, then 49. Without my saying anything, he realised I had dif culties recognising people and googled it.

‘I think you have this,’ he said, showing me his computer one day.

That’s when I learned about face blindness, or prosopagnosia. Another disorder also seemed to t my symptoms – aphantasia, or dif culty visualising. While most people can picture images in their minds, there are some, like me, who nd it hard. It explained why I couldn’t recall movies which are visual, and couldn’t easily conjure up faces of loved ones.

I’ve never had an of cial diagnosis, but I tell friends about the conditions so they don’t feel bad if I don’t recognise them. Luckily, I have no problems recognising my son Chase, 28, and daughter Ryley, 25.

While I currently work as a notary, I’m looking at getting into the wedding coordinating business. I’ll have to warn the bride she might have to point out the groom on the day, even though I’ve met him before!

Although I wish I didn’t have this disorder, it has its positives. It’s made me a much friendlier person – and I get to enjoy movies all over again, as though seeing them for the very

rst time! ●

I could rarely recall whether I’d seen a film or not