December 22, 2006

Unexpected People in Unexpected Places

I blew off doing much Christmas prep today to go have lunch with my friend and co-worker. I drove to her house, which took me about 30 minutes to get to from my house. She had suggested that we go to this yummy hamburger joint near her, and then we'd do some shopping therapy in her neck of the woods. I'm completely unfamiliar with her area of town, so she drove. And drove, and drove. It seemed like we drove forever. I joked with her about it, and she said, "Yea, but there isn't a yummy hamburger joint near you." I nearly fell off my seat laughing. There's one just a few miles from my house. I just don't go there often. It was a lot closer than the one "near" her house.

So, I'm in a part of the city that is practically not even the city. It's all good, though. I didn't have to personally find my way out of there. What an exciting adventure.

We went into the craft store so I could pick up a couple of little stocking stuffers, and while we were there, I had one of those strange life moments.

I was wandering aimlessly when I saw a woman come around the corner into the main aisle. In my mind she looked familiar, but she was out of context. At first I thought that perhaps she had a face that just reminded me of someone else, but then she spotted me, her mind probably doing the same familiar-face-in-a-strange-place processing. It was an old friend from the tiny little northern Nevada town where I used to live!

In my mind, it made sense that I might bump into her because she has daughters who live in Las Vegas, and of course she was there for the holiday. She asked if I lived in the area and I answered, "No. Actually, I do not even know where I am right now!" I told her where I did live, and her husband, who has also been good friend, confirmed that it was about 20 miles across the city. It made no sense at all that I was there at that time, in that store. Now, if we were talking about the craft store in my neighborhood, you can find me there several times a month. THAT would make sense.

So many times in my life I have had these experiences where I see people I know in unexpected places, or I meet people who know people in my little world. I'll save the details of my it's-a-small-world experiences for another post. For tonight I'm just enjoying the reconnection I had with some old friends, which digs up pleasant memories of good times with good folks.

Mmmmm. Warm fuzzies.

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