Friday, March 09, 2007
Small World
Do you trip out when a series of small, random choices lead to an encounter that proves yet again that we live in a very small world? I do, and it recently happened to me.
Where to start? Well, last week I was browsing Craigslist, as I do from time to time, and stumbled across a posting for a knitter/crocheter, posted a day or two previously. Someone was looking for a knitter/crocheter to help them re-create and slightly re-design the bodice of a girls dress they had and wanted to eventually market. It sounded intriguing to me, so I responded to the posting. As an avid knitter/crocheter who is always looking for a new project, it sounded right up my alley. Plus, the location given on the posting was for a community very close to me. I offered pictures of projects I had to done to show the caliber of my work, etc. Well, the person e-mailed me back and asked to see my stuff. We exchanged e-mails back and forth and eventually made plans to meet at a local Starbucks.
The morning of the meeting came and, armed with a coupon for a free kids drink, I drove to the Starbucks. As I stood in line to order my chai tea latte and get a free kids drink for Lauren, I spotted a woman across the way who seemed to initially fit the description of the woman I was there to meet. I tried to catch her eye and ask if she was Andrea. She looked confused, but from somewhere behind and to the left of me I heard this, "No, but I'm Andrea and I KNOW YOU!"
I turned towards the answering voice and saw who had spoken: a woman I knew from college! In fact, we were in the same sorority together! But what's more, we used to live just 2 blocks apart when we were small kids in a completely different town! And our younger sisters were friends and in the same class! And we both had 2-3 yr old daughters who looked like us! (ok, that part is true but completely random and not at all connected to the Small World-ness of this story.) A pretty big trip, eh? Of all the responses she got to her posting, she replied to a few. Of those, she liked my work the best and I was the only one she agreed to meet. And we already knew each other. Bizarre. In college we were more acquaintances than friends - she was a couple of years ahead of me and therefore we didn't hang out together. But we lived under the same roof in the sorority for a year, and definitely were familiar with each other as a result. She looks exactly the same (in other words - good.) Except she's toned down her "look", which is good. She used to have a very colorful way of wearing her make-up back in the day, and now? Now she's a mother to 3 kids, the youngest of whom is 2.5 yrs old, and doesn't wear much make-up (neither do I). But she's got an entreprenurial spirit and is very creative and suddenly we have much in common. More so than when we were collegiates. My mind has officially been blown. I love it when that happens!
I've taken on her project and have been working diligently to re-create the knitted bodice. It's a little tricky trying to copy something without a pattern. First attempt wasn't quite right, so now I'm in the process of revising a few techniques to get a better result. I'm thinking I'll need one more attempt to get it perfect and I've already decided what I'm going to tweak next. Third times the charm, right? I guess the same goes with some people: we sort of knew each other as kids but didn't become friends. We sort of knew each other in college but didn't become friends. We run into each other again as adult and hit it off.
I just love it when I'm reminded of just how small the world really is sometimes.
Where to start? Well, last week I was browsing Craigslist, as I do from time to time, and stumbled across a posting for a knitter/crocheter, posted a day or two previously. Someone was looking for a knitter/crocheter to help them re-create and slightly re-design the bodice of a girls dress they had and wanted to eventually market. It sounded intriguing to me, so I responded to the posting. As an avid knitter/crocheter who is always looking for a new project, it sounded right up my alley. Plus, the location given on the posting was for a community very close to me. I offered pictures of projects I had to done to show the caliber of my work, etc. Well, the person e-mailed me back and asked to see my stuff. We exchanged e-mails back and forth and eventually made plans to meet at a local Starbucks.
The morning of the meeting came and, armed with a coupon for a free kids drink, I drove to the Starbucks. As I stood in line to order my chai tea latte and get a free kids drink for Lauren, I spotted a woman across the way who seemed to initially fit the description of the woman I was there to meet. I tried to catch her eye and ask if she was Andrea. She looked confused, but from somewhere behind and to the left of me I heard this, "No, but I'm Andrea and I KNOW YOU!"
I turned towards the answering voice and saw who had spoken: a woman I knew from college! In fact, we were in the same sorority together! But what's more, we used to live just 2 blocks apart when we were small kids in a completely different town! And our younger sisters were friends and in the same class! And we both had 2-3 yr old daughters who looked like us! (ok, that part is true but completely random and not at all connected to the Small World-ness of this story.) A pretty big trip, eh? Of all the responses she got to her posting, she replied to a few. Of those, she liked my work the best and I was the only one she agreed to meet. And we already knew each other. Bizarre. In college we were more acquaintances than friends - she was a couple of years ahead of me and therefore we didn't hang out together. But we lived under the same roof in the sorority for a year, and definitely were familiar with each other as a result. She looks exactly the same (in other words - good.) Except she's toned down her "look", which is good. She used to have a very colorful way of wearing her make-up back in the day, and now? Now she's a mother to 3 kids, the youngest of whom is 2.5 yrs old, and doesn't wear much make-up (neither do I). But she's got an entreprenurial spirit and is very creative and suddenly we have much in common. More so than when we were collegiates. My mind has officially been blown. I love it when that happens!
I've taken on her project and have been working diligently to re-create the knitted bodice. It's a little tricky trying to copy something without a pattern. First attempt wasn't quite right, so now I'm in the process of revising a few techniques to get a better result. I'm thinking I'll need one more attempt to get it perfect and I've already decided what I'm going to tweak next. Third times the charm, right? I guess the same goes with some people: we sort of knew each other as kids but didn't become friends. We sort of knew each other in college but didn't become friends. We run into each other again as adult and hit it off.
I just love it when I'm reminded of just how small the world really is sometimes.
// posted by MP @ 9:28 AM 
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