I Can Always Tell When You Were Here

Noticing a passing shower, and Oscar the parrot saying "Hello!" to the rain, I decided to take him outside to enjoy it.  I popped the top part of the cage off and walked it outside to the deck, then came indoors.

As I walked past the table that is next to the door, I knocked a tool onto the ground.  Annoyed at having to bend to the ground to pick up the tool, I was reminded of a friend in College.

We would study in Jim's Room because we had similar classes that year, and his roommate Joe was rarely there.  Settling in, we spread out the Accounting books and began to dig in to the formulas of depreciation.  After a while, it was time for a snack.  We went after Jim's pretzels and had our break.  I then put the pretzels away and we returned to the books.

Joe came in and tried to be quiet when he arrived, but he was looking for something.  Finally he found it and laughed.

We both stopped and asked what was going on. 

He said "I can always tell when you are here for a visit, Bill".
Why is that?
Because everything is put up too high.

We laughed and chatted about things.  Joe was a smallish guy, about 5'5" which worked because he was a gymnast.  I'm 6'4" tall, athletic, and tend to fill doorways.

Noticing a small stepstool, I realized that it was about the difference in our sizes. 

"Joe, stand on that step." 
He did, slightly confused.
I told him that now he was looking eye to eye to me.

The lightbulb went on and Joe did a slow scan of the room, eyes opening wide.

Joe said "It really does look different up here!".

After he stepped down we realized we knew something subtle about each other.  It's one of those small things that you don't necessarily realize.  By simply being in a space, you effect the way it is.  You move it's clutter around to suit your needs and make it more comfortable to you.

When you leave, others usually will realize someone else was there, but not who.  From that point on Joe knew when I was there and I realized that he did.

I made it a point to leave Jim's pretzels on a lower shelf from then on.

To this day, the top shelves are "Bill's Shelves", even if Joe and Jim and I haven't seen each other for years.  It's just easier that way.