Small World Too

Saturday afternoon I went to my friend Laurie’s birthday party in Golden Gate Park. I’ve really just met Laurie. She’s in current Un-Scripted show Theater: The Musical, but she’s super cool and I wanted to go to her party.

I arrive at about the same time as a large clump of people. As Laurie’s doing the introductions, Jess, who looks awfully familiar, says “You look really familiar. Did you come see Money & Run at Impact?”


I did! She played Money (or was it Run? She played the girl of the duo). Not only strange that she would have recognized me from the audience, but my girlfriend Diana happens to be the production manager of Impact Theatre. The two had never met, since the one rehearsal Diana attended, Jess missed. Small world, right?

Well, a little later I overheard her say something about “back home in Illinois.” Being from Illinois myself originally I asked where she grew up. She said “a suburb of Chicago.”

Being from a suburb of Chicago myself I asked which one. She said “Downers Grove.”

“I’m from Downers Grove. I grew up a few blocks from Downers North High School.”

“I grew up a few blocks from North!” she says. “On Grant Street right near the stoplight in front of the high school.”

She grew up, literally around the corner from me. She used to hang out at the Omega in high school just like I did. Now, she’s probably about 10 years my junior, so it’s no surprise we never crossed paths. Her family went to St. Mary’s while mine went to St. Joe’s, eliminating any chance of knowing each other from church or grade school. She also, quite sensibly, went to North. I went many miles away to Benet. Why? Dunno. North was a perfectly good high school.

BUT WHAT THE HELL?!? What are the odds? We were practically neighbors. And yet, somehow that’s just how the world works for me.