Some people think I don't have boring days. But I do. Today is one of them. So on days when things are boring, I take it upon myself to draw from the stories of my life and find something that will regale you all.
Linda told a story today about a small world. And it's a sweet story and you should go read it.
So today I'm going to give you my own small world story.
For my high school graduation present, my mom decided to take me on a Caribbean Cruise. Sure, we didn't go until my junior year of college but it's the thought that counts, right?
We were originally scheduled to go on some Dolphin of the Sea ship (I'm picturing tuna right now for some reason) on a "Christian" cruise. Well... about a week before we were to leave, the ship was.... condemned. Um... yeah. Condemned.
My mom, being my mom, pitched a fit and demanded that they get us on some cruise ship, somewhere. After some wrangling and finagling, they got us on a ship - the Crown Monarch. We left the day after Christmas and flew to Florida. We got to the ship and... WOW. Where as the other cruise ship had been condemned, this thing was only 6 months old! It was GORGEOUS!! And not huge - it only held like 500 passengers. I can say with confidence that 495 of the them were Jewish & over the age of 65. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, but just NOT the cruise my little 21-year-old mind had envisioned. Thank GOD for a young (and hot) staff!!
This particular ship was one where they assigned you a dinner table, and you sat at the same one every night. Now, part of the compensation for the whole condemned fiasco was that we were seated at the Captains table... only we were at the second seating and he was at the first but... we had the best waiters so that's all the matters.
The first night we sit down at the table. We are joined by a husband and wife from Vancouver, Canada, and a family from Chicago. The family was Mom & Dad, their 2 daughters & sons-in-law, and 2 grandchildren (the ONLY other people on the ship even close to my age). We did the usual "where are you from" kinds of talks. I asked the family from Chicago what part of town they were from, since my dad had grown up there. Here's the exchange between me and one of the daughters:
Me - What part of Chicago are you from?
Lady - Oh, Oak Park.
Me - Oh! My dad grew up in Oak Park.
Lady - Really, what part.
Me - I believe most of his years were spent on Kennilworth Street.
Lady - You're kidding. We grew up on Kennilworth Street. Do you know what house number?
Me - (note - I have NO idea why I know this but I do) 610 Kennilworth.
Lady - says nothing.. just gets really big eyes. Then finally says "Is your dad Hank or George"
Me - (In shock) Hank!
Lady - We grew up 2 doors down from your dad. We played with them all the time. I went to the 7th grade dance with your Uncle George.
Yeah... small world.
How about you? Tell me your small world stories!!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
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27 comments:
Wow!! That is a great small world story!! And a great cruise story! I had to laugh at you being seated at the Captain's table, but not when he was actually going to be there!! I have a lot of small world stories, but have to really think to remember them! The one that comes to mind now is that I got a call once from a friend who had moved out of the country (can't remember where) and then returned to the US. She called to see how I was doing and she asked where I was living. I told her I was still in Louisiana and she said that's where she is! No big surprise, because that is where I knew her from. I said I am still in Baton Rouge, and she said her too!! Again, no biggie! She asked what area I lived in and I told her the name of the neighborhood where I had just rented an apartment, then she said ME TOO!!! She asked what street and I told her, and she said OMG ME TOO!!! She asked what address and when I told her she said OH MY GOD, GO OUTSIDE and when I did, she was standing there on her phone! She had moved to the apartment underneath mine! It was crazy!
I love your story! That is just so amazing. And I know that I have had small world stories before. Lots of them. And now that you have asked. They all ran and hid. They are probably with my metabolism right now.
Mr Sweetie and I went to a wedding this past August in New Orleans. We sat at a table with two other couples and started chatting. One lady said her and her husband lived in (insert big city) (over an hour away from New Orleans) and Mr sweetie was like yeah, me too I live in Central and the lady said ..oh us too! He said I live on such and such road and she was like US TOO! He then said I live behind Mr. Archie back off of this road in a little trailer park, she said "Omg! We do too" It was really funny...
Thanks for sharing your story :D
I've got a few small world stories. While living in Italy I took a tour on a bus to Salzburg and met an older couple staying with their son and daughter in law. Learned all about them and what a beautiful story! About 6 months later I walk into a store with my hubby and he introduces me to his co-worker and wife. We chat and soon find out his wife and I went to the same High School in Missouri and she had a crush on my younger brother. Even more crazy is that THIS turned out to be the couple I learned all about on my trip to Salzburg. TOO FUNNY!
Second small world story is this
My husband's best friend in MO got married to a wonderful lady named Sandy. We moved away from them and ended up in Italy. During my first trip to Poland I was getting out of my car and someone started calling my name. (This is not a tourist town mind you. Some people in Poland don't even know where it is.) Anyway, it turns out to be my old friend Sandy who is on her way out of town from a weekend of shopping for pottery. She and her husband were stationed in Germany.
Last story I promise!!!
My hubby and I decided to spend a week traveling around Germany, Luxemburg and Belgium before moving back to the states. We stopped in Luxemburg for about 5 hours for dinner and walking around. While there we were walking down the street and noticed some people we said had to be Americans too. All of a sudden that couple yells, Major Bird! It ended up being one of my husband's students from when he was an ROTC instructor in Laramie, WY. Even more crazy is that I worked with his friend's parents at the Jr. High and Hospital in Laramie. We ended up having dinner together. He too had been stationed in Germany unbeknownst to us. YES INDEEDY IT IS A SMALL SMALL WORLD!
By the way, thanks for your sweet comments on my SITS day. You rock!
WOW! That is crazy! It's a small world after all. Sing it with me now... It's a small world after all, It's a small..... Hey! How come no one else is singing??? Okay, that's enough. I can't think of any small world story to top that.
Recently, I was at a friend's 40th birthday party and as soon as I walked in one of her other friends- whom I had never met- looked at me and said, "How's Kris doing?" Yep, she went to HS with my sister.
I have an amazing small world story that I am waiting to post on Thanksgiving...
all I can say about the Jewish cruise is - oy vey vat a tiny shtettle!
That's a wild story! Oh my gosh. How WEIRD!!!
No way! That is too weird!
My mom is like this... no matter where she goes she runs into at least one person she knows.
When I worked at the bank...a guy walked into my office and asked if I was related to any Baers from Maryland...I said my brother-in-law lived there...He said Did you marry Bobby...I said my Hubby was called that as a child.
He said No Way...a hundred times...
Turns out it was My Hubby's next door neighbor from when he was 8 years old!
Lots of small world stuff but not right now...just wanted you to know that spring break my junior year of college I went on a cruise - on Dolphin cruise lines. It was great - I had a blast, despite going with my grandma! :)
Neat story!!
some times its scary how small the world can be.
That is bizarre! Better then mine!
Standing in line at Toys-R-Us, 7 months pregnant, 23 years and one and a half states away from high school and the lady in front of me asked me if I went to CCHS. I said yes and it turns out she recognized me, big belly and all, from all those years ago!
Such a neat story!
When I went over to Germany to stay with Tressa (American in Norway) for the summer, she lived in a college dorm type apartment. I met one of her dorm-mates who happened to be from Northern VA. A lot of people I went to school with were from that area. Upon further questioning, she stated she was from a small town in N. VA called Sperryville (I think?). Well, one of my closest drinking buddies from College :) was from there and I mentioned his name...turns out that was one of her best friends in HS.
That's a great story. I don't have anything like that.
It really is a small world isnt it? My daughter was on a mission trip one summer at an orphanage and the house mother was helping my daughter and the other kids with some meals and she was talking to my daughter and ask her where she was from and my daughter told her Mt Vernon. The lady said"I know some people from Mt Vernon, and preceded to ask her if she knew Mike and Patti w. My daughter's eyes got big and said "yeah they are my parents!" The lady was a girl I had gone to church with and her dad had married Mike and I!
I have missed you oh so much during my illness...and globe trotting...and stuff.
What a great story! I have a few of these, and you've inspired a post or 2, I reckon! Should I use the one about my eldest running into her kindergarten sweetheart in the college dining hall after not seeing him for 13 years, or what about being waited on at TGI Friday's by my best friend from 7th grade, who moved away the summer we were 13? And I'm talking about in a restaurant halfway across the country from where we grew up and about 20 years later...
Small world right now taking place in my ICU.
A guy who hung out with my sisters when they were teenagers, who I had a huge crush on, is now my patient. Going thru DT's. With a head bleed. Requiring brain surgery.
Talk about weird.
On a more pleasant note, every single time I go to Gatlinburg, I run into someone I know. Seriously, every time.
Yep, I love me some Gatlinburg!
My, thats a good one. You'll have to give me a few to think about this one!!!!!!!
HAPPY TUESDAY!!!!!!!
- Jennifer
My small world story is that I grew up in a small town on the North Shore of Long Island called Rocky Point. Hubby grew up in NYC but his grandparents has a summer home in Rocky Point. He spent his summers playing on the beach there where I was also playing on the beach. Fast forward 13 years...we meet each other in Florida where he had moved right before high school as did I. We talk about where we grew up and the "Rocky Point connection" and jokingly say that we probably played on the same beach together as little 5 year olds. This is where it gets really weird...my mother in law has a picture of herself on the beach with my husband at about 3 or 4..yup, you guessed it...in the background of the picture is my mom with a playpen on the beach...we can only assume that it was me in the playpen...you can't see me but it is definitely my mom. My mom didn't believe us until we showed her the picture...freaked us all out! We were destined to meet! :)
My husband and I were standing in line for the Late Show w/ David Letterman show in NYC in 2002. We started talking with a couple in line behind us... they lived in the same city as we did in Wisconsin. We shared notes on how to get closer to the front of the audience, and we ended up in the second row. We kept running into them all over the city after that.
A year later, I was at bar, and the girl came up to me and said "You look so familiar... didn't we sit near each other at David Letterman?" We sure did!
HMMMM Small world story...HMMM I can not think of one today. I will have to ponder it. Have a GREAT Thanksgiving and have lots of fun up in ATL!
Okay, I have two kind of stretching it small world stories. 1) My ex- and I were (when still married, of course!) in Mexico at a little shop in town. All of a sudden I thought I heard a voice that sounded familiar. I looked around to see my mother-in-law's cousin and family. I had no idea they were anywhere other than Atlanta.
2) I went to church with a man who was best friends in high school with the Unibomber's brother. Creepy, huh? He didn't realize who he was until the big news hit all the media.
OOOH! I have a REALLY good one! When it became obvious that my husband and I had more than just a litte flirtation going on- as in we were obviously going to get married- my dad went to the public library and checked out a short book on Romania. The next time we were at my parent's my dad showed the book to my soon-to-be. As he was leafing through it, he shouted, "Hey! That's ME!" Sure enough it was a picture of my Honey shortly after the revolution!
Good story.
Let's see, I went to high school at Deltona High School in FL. No one has ever heard of Deltona, when we moved there, there was NOTHING. When I made it to high school it was brand new, our class was going to be the first to go all 4 years. Woot-woot. After getting married I moved to GA and started working at an insurance company, which was kind enough to fire me a week before Christmas last year. (that's another story) Anyway during the spring last year they hired a new IT guy and lo and behold...he too was a DHS graduate! Talk about weird..both of us has NEVER met anyone else outside of Deltona that knew Deltona and went to school there.
Small world... I used to live in Englewood area and in the Lower West Side area, like I could have spit on Rush-Presbyterian Hospital from our house.
Where did your dad go to school?
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