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.