It's A Small World, After All...

This may be one of those stories that you need to read, and re-read, and maybe read again.

I HAD to write about this because, although it might not be "HAHA FUNNY," It's something that happens to me more and more often...

When the universe, and the strangeness of it all, rears up and smacks you right in the fanny. Or, wherever you need to be smacked to get the idea...

So here I go...

Last week I had to stop up to my mom's house to pick up some things that I had left the day before...sunscreen, a pan, my flip-flops...items that weren't going to ruin my day if I didn't have them, but I had a quick chance to run over there, so I did. My parents, just in case you didn't know this, live in the same house I grew up in, a couple of blocks away from Crazy Road...

My best friend, Julie(Hi, Jul) still lives next door to them(!)
(She and her family live in the house that SHE grew up in...I know...it's cozy)

Anyway, I darted into my Mom's, grabbed my loot and ran back out...

Julie was standing in her driveway...Naturally, I walked up to say hi. (Even though we talked on the phone earlier...we talk every day...we have since we were little kids...)

She was on the phone, talking with her hubby about buying an air conditioner.

"Okay. Yup. Great. No, go ahead and get the ten...Okay. Okay. Yup. Okay. Love you too..."

Beep.

So we picked up from our earlier conversation...we had gone to the beach the day before, and still were hashing over the funny moments...

RIIINGGG.

And this is where is got weird.

She had that very confused look on her face.

"Um...I really have no idea...Who is this again? I am? I really...I am standing with SOMEONE who might be able to help you..."

And she handed me the phone...

She still had that look of someone who might have landed in a foreign country with no idea how they got there...or something...

"Hello?"

"Hi. This is 'Kim' from 'SoAndSuch Kennel,' I need to reach Jim Smith. There has been a little incident with his dog." (names changed, of course).

Okay. Follow closely...

Jim Smith is my former brother-in-law. Still a great friend of my family...but this lady had not called me, or my sister, or my parents...she called MY friend...ACCIDENTALLY, and I just HAPPENED to be right there!!!!!!!

"This is the number that 'Tina'(Jim' fiance, whom I have not met) left for an emergency number. Do you know how I can reach Jim or Tina?"

"Gosh...I can give you MY sister's number. She will know how to reach them..."

Now, Julie would not have been the right contact, she doesn't even know Tina...so the whooooolllle call was a very fortunate coincidence.

The dog is fine, by the way.

Then, this past weekend, ANOTHER chance meeting occurred...

A couple of weeks ago, Jodi, one of the owners of Turner Publishing (and my friend) sent me a message to call "Patti." Patti is a friend of Jodi's who wanted to talk about advertising in our papers.

After a bit of phone tag, I finally spoke with Patti, and set up a meeting for next week. Nice.

So this past weekend, I grabbed the opportunity to go out to dinner with a couple of "girls" that I wouldn't ordinarily be able to see outside of work...with a little re-arranging, baby-sitter-scheduling...it used to be so easy...I met up with Jodi and Tami for an impromptu dinner.

We were having a great time chatting and laughing when Jodi got a surprised look on her face~

"Hey! It's Patti!

Well, THAT's cool!

Patti walked over, Jodi introduced us...

"Hey! Isn't this something else?!"

"Love when this happens!"

"Oh!" Patti said. "Let me introduce you to my husband...'Eddie~'

nicetomeetyouhandshakenicetomeetyouhandshakesmilehandshake....

Patti continued...

"You might know him by "Frenchie~he used to be on the rad...."

"OH MY GOODNESSSSSS!" I almost jumped off the chair...

"We are ALMOST RELATED!!!!"

Now everyone looked confused. And I MIIIIGHT have been a bit, um, hyper, after having a fantastic margarita...

"You are SUE's nephew!" I said to Eddie.

He looked stunned.

"I am Sue's niece! Uncle Mike is my mom's brother!!!!"(Sue married Mike)

I had always heard about "Frenchie" and his funny stories, but had not "met" him since my Aunt and Uncle's wedding more than 30 years ago.

My Aunt Sue is his Aunt, too, but on her side...Get it? My first cousins Scott and Bryan are HIS first cousins, too, on different sides.

Get it?

AND he's Patti's husband.

I know...you might not care. But I LOVE stuff like this. Like the sandwich incident at the trade show. Like a million other times when you are in the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time, and the Universe just lines everything up. And smacks you in the fanny.

It's how I met my husband...I'll get to that sooner or later.

Open your eyes. Listen to people. Talk to strangers.(well, not in dark alleys...or anything). The Universe is always waiting for a good smack.

Thanks For Reading.

funny.crazy.love.