Law and order

I flew with E & A by myself this last weekend. We went to Tucson to see Laurie (and my mom, who came in for the weekend, too) and then all road-tripped to Vegas to see my aunt and uncle at their new condo there (talk about an upgrade from Wichita - Kansas, not Texas). Can I just tell you, that whole idea was craaaaazy, but flying with 2 kids was actually not all that bad thanks to my crazy obsessive-compulsive hyper-organized type A personality. The diaper bag and toy bag were each strategically packed so I could reach in and know exactly what my hand would find in any given nook or cranny. And there were lots of rules. So many rules. Poor E. But it worked. And people took notice. Segue to this conversation at the end of my outbound flight.

Woman: [leaning across the aisle] Your baby is just darling. I've been sitting here wishing I could hold him. And they are both so well-behaved. And you're so good with them. I hope you plan to have lots more because you handle them really well.
Me: [guffawing and blushing]
Man*: Yeah, you really do.
Me: Thank you so much. And I might be crazy, but do you work at Vanderbilt medical center?
Man: Yes, I'm one of the {surgical subspecialty} faculty. Why?
Me: Well, not all that long ago, I was an internal medicine resident there.
Man: Oh, wow. I'm Dr. A. Sorry I didn't recognize you.
Me: I know, and it's ok. There are dozens of us every year but only a few of you.
Man: That's funny. Watching you with the kids, I told my wife you were probably either a surgeon [I like to think he really just means "doctor" in general but forgets there are doctors besides surgeons] or married to a military man.
Woman: Well, I wish we'd figured out that you knew each other two hours ago. I could have been holding that baby!

True story. The end.

*I've been staring at him out of the corner of my eye the entire flight because I really, really think I know him from somewhere. At this point in the conversation (upon hearing him speak), I'm certain I do.