It's a small world after all...
 

Do you have any stories about this being a "small world"?

Maybe you ran into a buddy from 1st grade while traveling halfway around the world... or you helped a random woman change a flat tire, and when you met your new girlfriend's parents 3 years later, that same woman you helped turned out to be your girlfriend's mom. What's your story?

I have two that come to mind:


1) When I first arrived to my dorm room in my freshman year of college, I saw that my roommate had already moved in and she had all of her stuff set up (she was on the soccer team and arrived at school a week early). She wasn't in the room at the time, though. I glanced over to her side of the room a few times while setting up my stuff, and I noticed on the wall one of those old time photos of her and her friends.

A little while later, she came back, we met and talked for a bit, and I found out that while she lived in Pennsylvania at the time, she was actually born and grew up in Connecticut. I lived in New Hampshire at the time, we were both New Englanders, blah blah blah. So then I asked her where she got the old time photo done, as I had one done at the beach that summer with my friends. She said she had it done at Hampton Beach.. in New Hampshire. She said that since she was little, her and her family had been vacationing there every year for one week out of the summer. I told her me and my family did the same. I then asked her where exactly she stayed, and she said on Highland Ave. I told her that my family stayed on the same road…

We eventually figured out that our families would vacation at this same beach, on the same road, in houses across the street from each other, one week apart - her and her family during the 2nd week of July, me and mine during the 3rd week.

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2) About 6 or 7 years ago, I was visiting my friend in Gilford, NH at the bar where he was working at the time. I was making small talk with him and with some of the regulars at the bar. At one point later in the night, a guy sat down next to me. He looked to be about 5-10 years older than me (late 20s, early 30s). We got to talking and he said he just moved into town a week prior, and he asked me if I knew all of the "cool" places to hang out. I told him I lived about an hour south of there, so I didn't really know much about the immediate area.

I eventually asked him where he moved from, and he said Woburn, MA. I told him that's where my dad grew up, and my grandfather, aunt and uncle still live there. He asked me what my last name is, and when I told him, he had an incredulous look on his face. He then kind of laughed and said, "Maybe we're related." He told me that his mother's maiden name is the same as my last name, and because he just got his license updated that day and had his birth certificate on him, he was actually able to prove it to me. Eventually we figured out that my grandfather and his grandfather are cousins.

So I was an hour away from home, this guy had just moved into town, we randomly sat next to each other at the same bar, and we put two and two together and figured out that we're related.

Back in the day, I used to work for a dotcom. I was laid off in the dotcom implosion.

A few months ago, I started a job at a new (rather more stable!) company. Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of my new coworkers had worked for the same dotcom back in the day.

I walked into my cousin's backyard for a graduation party and my aunt was standing there talking to one of the manager's in my department. Turns out the manager married a guy who grew up with my cousin- a few doors down.

Same cousin- funnier story. I was at a sorority alumnae club meeting and we were talking about women who shockingly found out they were pregnant when they thought they were done. I was talking about my cousin who had kids who were 12 and 14 when she found out a third was on the way. The sorority sister hosting the event that night said the same exact thing happened with a gal in her birthday dinner club (they go out to dinner for their birthdays- social thing). Well, my cousin lived in the same town so I asked "Is her name J?" and lo and behold, we were talking about the same person! She was also at the graduation party mentioned above..lol.

At Parent Orientation for U of M the other day, one of the other dad's went to my high school. I didn't know him though. But, here our kids were, going to the same college in the same living/learning community.

This happened to my mom but I was with her. Years ago we went to Uganda/South Africa to visit family. We were on our first flight from uganda going to amsterdam and just basically on the plane just chilling basically. My mom gets up to go to the bathroom and on her way back down she bumped into this lady, she apologizes, but that starts a conversation. Moments later they realize that they went to school back when my mom was younger in uganda.

So, this one time, in college I was a [insert low-thinking descriptive word] college student. I met this guy at karaoke that I thought was really hot. He was in town for a couple days at a professional conference and we decided to hang out the following night. He wanted to go to a strip club and well, I'd never been to one so I thought it'd be a fun/new experience.

We are sitting along the wall chatting. Dancers are dancing, drinks are flowing. The announcer does a "dancer all call" where all the dancers have to go to the back of the club, line up, and walk back out carrying drinks. As the dancers are coming out, one does a double take of me - I notice her. She stops abruptly, turns around, and screams "AlwaysSAI, is that you?! OMG, it's been soooo long!" And, gives me a huge hug.

So, there I was standing in a strip club hugging the stripper that grew up across the street from me; was one of my best childhood friends.

I've never been back to a strip club since. Not so much because of the long lost friend thing - more because I didn't like the atmosphere.

When we were moving our daughter into her Page dorm in high school, I started talking to one of the roommates as the girl was from New England. I asked her about what she had done last summer and she said she was a camp counselor in the Berkshires. I asked her which one as I had loved my camp also in Western MA. When she said the name and we realized it was the same, both my kids started laughing hysterically because both the roomie and I were excited.

But my brother has a story to top that. He had been living in Sydney for about a year at that point and was vacationing in Tasmania with some Aussie friends. They were in a crowded pub and everyone was being noisy and rowdy due to a televised rugby match. Someone called out his name and when he turned around, it was a baseball teammate from our Massachusetts high school. Ironically, my brother was in grad school in Sydney but was teaching pitching techniques to cricket players while the teammate was teaching American football at an Australian upper school

I lost. LMAO

AlwaysSAI, what was your date's reaction? I was thinking he might be shocked when you got a big hug from the stripper, but on the other hand, someone who suggests a strip club for a date might actually be pleased at the association. Or as my 16-year-old son said, this date "was not a keeper."

^^^He kept asking me to get him a free dance from my friend. Thing was, we were not anywhere near my childhood town. It had been years since we had spoken. I tried to tell him that but he just kept asking. I realized that while he may have been hot, he was a creep, so I left.

He called me a few days later and told me that, in fact, my friend had given him a free dance. I'm just glad I wasn't there for that. /awkward

The only thing that would top this story is if you run into one of them again and it turns out they got married as a result your introduction.

We were in the Sahara desert during a trip to Tunisia, in a small village. There was a tiny cafe, we walk in a find one of my classmates from freshmen year sitting there with his girlfriend.

A few years ago, my husband, my parents, and I were in Rockefeller Center in December, admiring the Christmas tree, when I heard someone calling my name. I turned around to find my sorority sister (who was partially responsible for my husband and I getting together, and who was my maid of honor), along with her husband and baby. Neither of them had any particular connection to NYC - they were there as tourists.

I was in the Atlanta airport and begun talking to an individual sitting in the gate area next to me. I was living in one state, she another, we were both just passing through Atlanta. She mentioned that she had grown up in a state different from her current location, which happened to be the state that my parents moved to while I was in college. As we noted the commonalities of the state, then city, then area of city it progressed to street name and finally street number. We both just stared at each other in shock as we realized my parents had bought her childhood home.

Just stumbled upon this article…

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/socie...s-ever-meeting

1) My mom was once driving to the entrance of our neighborhood when a car behind her started honking and flashing its lights at her car. She pulled over, and a man got out and told her, "Your taillight is out, and who do you have that goes to Clemson? I went there in 1970!" He'd seen my mom's Clemson Mom sticker and felt compelled to ask her about it since very few people in Rhode Island go there. They chatted about it for a while and then he drove off.

Fast forward a while to this May, when I was parked in my local Walmart's parking lot. My license plate is CLMSN and I also have a magnet on my car, so it's very obvious what school I go to. As I'm loading my bags into the trunk a man gets out of the car next to me and says, "I have the other half of your license plate!" He had an old Rhode Island plate that said TIGERS. We talked about Clemson for a while and it turns out that not only did he remember my mom talking about me, but he also knew my dad through work! Very cool connection through school for me.

2) When I was doing college tours in 2011 (but it seems like forever ago!) I was at the University of Maryland and just as the tour was ending I ran into a boy I knew from elementary school who'd moved away to Ohio and then back to a different town in RI. We chatted for a while and then went our separate ways.

I also had made a friend at a summer camp I went to in 7th and 8th grade, but then lost touch with her after that. Sophomore year of high school my field hockey team was scrimmaging the town next to mine and I started chatting with a girl who looked suspiciously familiar. It turns out that she was my long-lost friend from summer camp! We ran into each other at field hockey events a few more times, and she was always super friendly to me.

How are these two stories, already coincidental in and of themselves, related? I'm friends with both of these people on Facebook, and I saw that they were tagged in a photo album together. I commented asking how they knew each other, since I knew them from two completely different places-come to find out they've been family friends for as long as they can remember!

I am convinced that everyone in Rhode Island knows each other, knows someone that knows them, or is related.

My mom grew up there. Maybe we're related! :p

Goodness, it's entirely possible. I probably know someone who knows someone who knows her. Rhode Island is the geographical equivalent of six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

My gggrandparents lived in and were married in Newport, RI. My DH's sister lived in Warwick, and he spent several summers there. As he said, the state's a whopping 37 miles wide, you have to be friendly!

This didn't happen to me, but when I was in high school, a friend of mine spent a summer in Constantinople. He was shopping at the bazaar one day, and ran into our English teacher!

I have a few odd ones, but I can't top the stripper story or the parents buying the stranger's childhood home story.

We took a spring break trip to New Orleans when I was a kid. We passed another family on the sidewalk, and my 5-year-old sister says, "Hi Michelle" to their little girl. Michelle says, "Hi Laura" to my sister and they both keep walking. Both families stopped and said, "Wait, you know each other?!" Turns out they were kindergarten classmates, completely oblivious of how unusual it was to run into each other several states away from home.

My daughter and her boyfriend realized they were on the same People to People trip in 8th grade.

Whoa.. which one? Hypo did a People to People trip in 8th grade, which would have been the same year.

It was the Washington, DC World Leadership Forum, the first week of April (spring break week). There were several kids on her plane out of Detroit Metro....

We moved to the town I grew up in just before my 1st birthday and my parents are very close to our neighbors.
At my Bat Mitzvah, my Mom was greeting people before the ceremony, and the husband walks up to my Mom and says "I'd like to introduce you to my Aunt Dora". He leads my Mom over to a woman and my Mom says "No, that's my Aunt Dora"! We couldn't believe it.

Aunt Dora was really my Grandfather's Aunt--she was married to my great-grandmother's youngest brother (and my GGM came from a family of 8--she was the oldest). So it turns out that we're all related to Aunt Dora--our neighbor's father was Dora's brother so he's her blood relation; we're all related by marriage.

20 years later my Mom refers to our neighbor as "Cousin Warren".

I have 2. First, I was a sophomore in college, out at a bar with the girls. There's a TOTALLY hot guy there who looks incredibly familiar to me but I can't place him. So being a couple drinks in I say to him - do I know you from somewhere? And he, in front of my girlfriends and with a completely straight face says - we went to France together. Oh, RIGHT, we had! You know how much 17 year old boys can change, so he looked just familiar enough to be familiar but not so familiar that I associated the cute little boy with the HOTTAY standing in front of me. The girls almost died. How could you forget traveling through France with this guy? Yeah, I'm just that cool :)

Then, when I was on my move from Newport Beach to Kansas City last fall, my friend and I were doing the whole Thelma & Louise thing going cross country. We had a great time! So we're on the highway in the middle of nowhere, maybe Arizona, maybe New Mexico. We stop at a gas station and I'm walking inside when this crazy woman starts charging at me. It was one of my good friends from Dubai! She and her husband lived in the Phoenix area and were going back and forth between there and Denver as they prepared to move there, and I just happened to catch them en route! In my whole life I won't have that weird of an experience again.

OK, I grew up in a very small town in Maine, like 6000 people, and everyone knows everyone. I moved to Philadelphia after college and moved in with a girl I met down here through a mutual friend. Roommate was down in FL for vacation, in some random ladies' room somewhere, and strikes up a conversation with another lady using the facilities. They were both talking about the FL weather and my roommate says "Way nicer than winter in Philly, for sure!" The lady she's talking to says, "Well, I'm from Maine, so I'm loving this!" My roommate says, "My roommate is from Maine, what town are you from?" The lady says, "You've never heard of it," then says the same small town that I'm from. "No way! Do you know AOIILisa?" Turns out we had graduated together in the same class - and she said to say hello to me!

This story is less strange because Philly is a bigger place, therefore more people you could potentially know. My ex and I were in Positano, Italy on vacation. Positano is along the Amalfi coast, and not that easy to get to. We were dining in Chez Black and hear English being spoken at the next table (not that unusual) and then hear the word "Wawa" which is a chain of convenience stores in the Philly area. Turns out the guys at the next table were from Philly, they owned a restaurant and were on a business trip looking for new menu items.. but the one guy's sister and I worked at the same company, in the same department. It really IS a small world.

Another story for ya:

My MIL is very into genealogy. She's gotten most of her family and friends to submit DNA samples to FamilyTreeDNA.com. We've learned some surprising things. First and foremost, two of MIL's best friends are also her fourth cousins. The two are married - and they are third cousins (which explains a few things about that family :p ).

I must say that I was relieved to learn that I do not match with my husband, or with any of his family who have submitted samples. The husband is awesome and I love him dearly, but some of his relatives are ......... interesting.

I can add another. My mother owned a home health agency (not one of the national franchises - hers predated 90% of those), where I worked for several years. One of our clients lived in a somewhat unique house in an upscale neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Her husband passed away, then she, too died. The house sold.

About four months later, we got a series of calls about possibly taking care of a woman who was in the same neighborhood. Her daughter had built a mother-in-law apartment onto her house for her, and she was moving into it. We were told the address and, yes, it was the same house. The best part? The mother was Michael Keaton's mother! She turned into one of the loveliest clients we ever had, very gracious and kind to the very end.

Ok first thought who ever came up with this idea genius! The stories have been a ton of fun to read. Ok now on to my two.

The first one happened several years back I was starting a new job, and I arrive for my first day and you have to meet with HR as part of the orientation process. So the gal that comes in looks super super familiar. And she's giving me that look "I totally know you from somewhere" turns out we went to middle and high school together.

The second one spans an ocean. So my friend and I were traveling in Argentina, and we were with a tour group. As much as I travel there is one thing that is certain, I will always meet an Australian and we will have good laughs. So we started chatting with these two Australian guys, they were single, we were single (and nothing happened). We went out to dinner as a group etc. We become facebook friends. Well, how's this for random. I am in Australia volunteering a few years later and meet this one gal, she's from Sydney where my facebook friend is from and they go to the same church which is huge. We become facebook friends and turns out she knows the guy I met in Argentina. She was in his wedding (the bride's side).

Right before I got married, I was looking through my now ex-husband's pictures and found one of me from a band trip I was on in 9th grade.

I remember posing, but didn't know who the photographer was.

Ahh, ok. She went on the 20 day trip to France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. So we didn't just discover one here on this thread..lol.

These are a lot of fun to read. Keep them coming people!

My Father was in the Navy during WWII, mainly serving on troop transports and always told us this story that we weren't sure if we should believe or not. He was on an Island in the Pacific and saw a guinea hen. Eggs were his favorite and he hated the powdered eggs they were served. He followed the hen into the brush because he knew it had a nest and possibly eggs. He reached the nest just as a Marine approached from the other direction. They were about to fight over the nest until they recognized each other from college. This man was a few years behind my Father, but they knew each other because they had the same last name and same initials (different first & middle names). The Marine lived 100 miles from our home town, but he was a farmer like my Father. At least once a year, one of the Ag supply companies would get their bills messed up we'd receive one of his bills or vice versa. They would mail it to the other and we'd hear the story again. When I was in High School we were at a big Farm Expo and ran into this man and his family. Yep, it was all was true and he had been telling his kids the same story for years.

Little back story first. One of my best friends is a University of Florida alumni. About 10 years ago, he convinced me to go to a football game in Florida. I went and fell in love with Gator Football, the Swamp, etc. (although I'm still a proud Arkansas State University alumni and supporter). We have season tix and go to 3-4 home games a year.

So, last year, J and I are in Gainesville for a game. We go to one of the smaller off-campus spirit shops to buy t-shirts. I got in line behind a family. When they finished their purchases, I stepped forward and gave the clerk my t-shirt and debit card. The clerk looked at my card and said, "Oh, didn't your family want to pay for your shirt, too?" I was confused and was, "Huh?". They lady in the family was still next to me at the counter looking at some items. The clerk said, "Y'all have the same last name. Aren't you family?"

Now, I have a very unusual/unique last name. Seriously uncommon. I told the lady my last name and she said theirs was the same. Her husband and I started talking family histories and figured out that we were some kind of distant relations.

Dear Husband is a gregarious talker, famous in our circles for his ability to talk to a tree trunk (and his willingness to do it). As a result, he knows lots and lots of people. Sure, we've lived here all our lives and of course we know lots.

He was a Scoutmaster. One of the assistant scoutmasters was always amazed at his ability to find somebody he knows almost anywhere they go.

Our twins graduated from high school, and our family vacation that year was a trip to New York City. Son and I had been on a band trip the previous year, but it would be daughter's and husband's first trip. The night before we left, DH was telling us about the previous weekend's troop canoeing trip. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our town, and the assistant scoutmaster had told him, "I'll bet you won't know anyone on THIS river."

They haul the canoes to the river's edge and prepare to launch.
"Hey Mike!" floats a voice from a fisherman in the middle of the river. Yep. A friend.
Downstream they paddle. After about a hour, they pass another group in canoes. "Hey Mike!" comes from one of the canoes. Another friend.
They pull the canoes out of the stream, load up and pitch tents at the campground. "Hey Mike!" is heard across the camping area.

Next day, we arrive at the airport and are in the waiting area for our flight to Atlanta.
"Hey Mike!" It's the assistant scoutmaster and a work friend, heading off on a business trip. ASM turns to his friend and says, "This is the guy I was telling you about" and recounts the previous weekend's adventures. "New York City? Bet you won't know anybody there!"

Plane change in Atlanta, so we head across the airport and arrive at the waiting area for the next flight. "Hey Mike!" It's an old friend, heading to Africa for one of his twice-yearly visits.

Our son, the scout, just shakes his head. No way will dad know anybody in NYC. He's never even been there.

We arrive in NYC at dusk, and by the time we head to the hotel on Times Square, the place is hoppin'. We drag our luggage into the lobby and get in line.
Son turns to his dad and says, "See? Told you you wouldn't know anybody."
And across the lobby, at just the perfect time, came a call from an old fraternity brother...."Hey Mike!"

^^ Sounds like my fiancee. We can't go anywhere without seeing someone. We almost moved into houses next to an acquaintance 3 times and in all different parts of the city.

I have 2 1/2 stories.
We have a large number of volunteers who are at work twice a month. I had been working there for six months and had been in charge of a great group of volunteers. Since it was a pretty day, I ate lunch outside and snapped a picture of the building. I posted the picture on one of the social medias and my friend commented that her nana had been volunteering there for forever. Ended up that her nana had been volunteering under me for the last six months. I had grown up with this family until I was 10 and they moved out of town. Nana was always Nana and I had a childhood nickname that I didn't use at work. Similarly, one of my grandmother's best friends worked under me, but neither of us used the nicknames that we knew each other as. It wasn't until my mother came in to visit me that Bobbie recognized me. I hadn't seen her in about 6 or 7 years.

The other is with my fiancee. We've been together 4 years and are still finding times where we "met" before we actually met. Some of this is just greek life where we were at the same events, but don't remember each other. I didn't know him in college so I have little recollection of them, but there are pictures of us at the same lectures with one of us sitting directly behind one another. The one that really stands out was about a year before we started dating. I had been invited to watch the Oregon vs Boise State game (ugh) with a friend. There were only five of us there; me, my boyfriend at the time, my friend, and two guys who I didn't know. The two guys were my fiancee and one of his best friends. It took us two or three months to figure it out, not even our friend remembered us meeting before. Direct quotes: "Wait you watched that game with Rachel?" "You were that other girl!?!" "You were one of those guys?!?"

My daughter, Grayson was studying abroad last semester. She had met a guy named " Dave" before she left last fall. They had a LLLLOOONNNGGG distance relationship during last semester. He was telling his mother about her one day. She said Grayson's "Last" name, I did a DDD rec for a "Last" name girl at UGA. Well it turned out it was for Grayson's biological sister at another SEC school. The reason she did the rec, her co- worker, my husband asked her to do it. Grayson and "Dave" dated for a few months after she came home and broke up. His mom and my husband still work together.

I'll summarize; Grayson and Dave go to the same college. They met last fall, but decided not to date because she was studying abroad this past spring. They spent many hours communicating over the phone/ skype, etc. Dave tells his mother about Grayson. His mother says, "Grayson Lastname, I did a rec for a girl named Lastname a few years back for UGA." Girl Lastname is Grayson's older biological sister. She did not join DDD, nor does she attend UGA. (But another SEC school) My husband actually found out from the mom( his co- worker) that Grayson and her son were having long distance phone chats. Dave's mom has a different last name than Dave so we did not make any connection between the two.
Hope that clarifies it!

^^^ I've read this several times and I'm confused. Your husband works with Dave's mom, and asked her to do a DDD rec for someone with your same last name, and the girl joined DDD, which is also your daughter's sorority? So, I'm assuming your family already knew this girl with the same last name? Or, did she write the rec for your daughter? Then, Grayson and Dave started dating?

Isn't Grayson's older biological sister your older daughter? Why did the co-worker write a UGA rec for her, if she went to another school? I think I'm confused by some of the extraneous information, but I'm compelled to figure it out! It's like one of those brainteaser scenarios! :)

Bottom line seems to be that your daughter Grayson and your husband's co-worker's son met at college and started dating. Co-worker also happened to have been asked by your husband to write a rec for Grayson's older sister in the past.

^^^
Dave's mom was confused it wasn't for UGA, but for SEC another U. Grayson's older sister is my daughter, but I did want to confuse daughter # 1 with daughter # 2. Apparently I did, sorry.