The Smallness of the World

There have been a few instances when I am reminded of how small of a world it really is.

1. When I first started, I was wearing my Saddleback College shirt that my brother got me for my birthday one day on Sunday duty. There was a family that came in and had gone all the way around the Rotunda and was about leave when the father asked me if I went to Saddleback. Apparently they are from California and he went to school there for a little bit.

2. After winter break I happened to be wearing my Garmisch Germany shirt. In one day, again on a Sunday I meet 3 people from Germany. One man with his family and grand daughters came in he was stationed in Wiesbaden I think. Another man came in and was stationed in Frankfurt a million years ago. The Frankfurt airbase is now being bulldozed (in all actuality it probably has already been done) and construction started for Terminal 3 of the Frankfurt am Main Airport. Then another couple came in and the wife was from north eastern Germany, I could tell by her accent.

3. Recently about 3 weeks ago we were giving a tour to a Senior group tour through the YMCA of Cy-Falls area. One lady asked me a question. I swear I heard an European accent. After I answered her question, I asked her where she was from and she said Houston. I gave her this weird look and asked again. Then she said Germany. I asked her where in Germany and she said Schweinfurt. 35 minutes away from Wuerzburg on a good day. I told her my parents were in the military and we lived off the Maine River in Eiblestadt near Ochsenfurt and Sommerhausen and Winterhausen. We started talking German to each other. She came to Houston about 25 years ago for work and makes trips back when she can. I told her where my parents are in Garmisch and she knew how great of a place/resort it was. It made me home sick and excited all at once.

It is amazing when you look back and see how small the world is. Like you might know someone who was friends with this other person you might have never meet before and then suddenly you meet them or someone who knows them. It is amazing and weird how it happens. It seems like people who aren't from the same area as everyone else in a group are instantly drawn to the other. Like there is some small force out there on the cosmic level that you connect at and then strike up a conversation. It helps you realize that no matter how big of a world it is and you might get overwhelmed by what you see/ do/ experience, you might look around the corner and see someone that you know or recognize someone or something about a person and then the world doesn't seem that big after all.