It Really Is a Small, Small World

Anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for nostalgia. Reconnecting with old friends is, for me, one of the most fun aspects of Facebook, for example. And I've already told you about how I'm reliving my high school days by re-reading the journals I kept during those four years. So you can only imagine how much I enjoy reconnecting with people in the most random of places, far from the computer.

Case in point: I was out Monday night at a work-related event, and was chatting up a friendly woman I had just been introduced to. Turns out she grew up in New York too, and as we started to narrow things down, it became clear that not only were we from the same state, but we also had the same county, town, and high school in common, though she had graduated nine years ahead of me. And, she was very good friends with a good friend of my family.

But here's where it got really fun. I asked her where she lived, and was shocked to learn that she and I used to live on the same street. And then she dropped the real bomb: She remembered me and my sister, because she used to be our babysitter! Not only that, but she remembered our house (which her mother had sold to my parents), what it looked like, and even a time when a babysitting gig at my house went a little awry. It had been about 27 years since we'd seen each other, but there we were, at a random event at the top of the Colonnade Hotel, reconnecting and laughing about what a small world it is, and how cool and funny it was to see each other again (though to be honest, I didn't really remember as much about her as she remembered about me. What can I say? I was eight or nine the last time I saw her).

So, yeah. It's nice to rediscover people from your past on the Internet, but every now and then I enjoy doing it in real life too.