Unmet Friends

I grew up taking the bus to school both in the morning and the afternoon. Before I could read I would generally sit by myself and watch people or the window. After I learned to read well I read most of the time.
One day on the bus, one boy, who had never been in any of my classes, he might have even been a grade ahead of me almost left something on the bus. "Steve" I called "Is this yours?" He grabbed it, and then looked at me and said, "How do you know my name?"
At Nauvoo there is a set of 40 Performing Missionaries who act, dance, and play instruments in several different shows and activities. 16 are in the band, 4 do stage crew type things, and 20 are the primary dancers and actors. While I was in Nauvoo I went to about a dozen performances with them. I got to know them in an observers way, and I even talked to a few of them individually at some points. But not really. It just reminded me of the school bus. Telling people about them I could say, "oh yeah, I really liked that Elder, and that Sister is pretty cool." And yet, I actually have no idea. Especially because they were always acting... I've had other situations like that at school (in college as well) and church. I gain this sympathy for random people, and occasionally think "I could be their friend." Then it never happens, but if I do think about them, I think of them fondly like a toy I grew up with but haven't played with for years (not object like, but yeah). Unmet friends I guess.