Thursday, May 21, 2009

It's a small world after all

I almost didn't write tonight. Almost. Because I'm exhausted, had a grueling day at work and just had a fabulous evening filled with great people, great causes and great wine.

But I feel the need to point something out And that would be just how gosh darn small our world is.

For example (hopefully you can follow me on this one): Vacay Boy (see last post) is engaged to Girl 1. Girl 1 is best friends with Girl 2. Girl 2 not only went to college with me, but was also my sorority sister AND ran for president of student government. And who was her campaign manager? Why, that would be J, of course. And they were pretty good friends, too. Isn't that odd? It's like it all came full circle...

And then there was tonight. Not only did I run into a guy I knew from college, I also ran into a guy that sat at my table at a destination wedding I went to last year. 

But neither of those compared to when my friend introduced me to a girl she knew from college (in the bathroom, of course, we keep it classy.) She immediately looked familiar to me, but I kind of brushed it aside.

A little while later, we ran into her again and I suddenly knew exactly how I knew her:

Her: Pam, do you remember Kate O?
Me: Oh my gosh yeah, we were friends in grade school.
Her: You want to Camp Ondessonk right?
Me: Yes! I knew you looked familiar! This is crazy! (pause) God, I hated that camp.
Her: Yeah, you were miserable. We all knew it.
Me: (a little uncomfortably) Yeah, sorry about that. Remember when we had to crawl on our stomachs through the mud in that claustrophobic cave?
Her: Oh yeah, definitely.

She then quickly flashed me her phone, said she had to take a call and left. Not sure if the phone call was legit, but still. How bizarre is that? I went to camp with her in 5th grade. She was a friend of my friend from St. Louis and we had only ever been together that one week at Camp Ondessonk.

I was a bit embarrassed that after all these years she still remembered how much I hated camp, but I couldn't help it. It was my first time away from home and on the very first night, I found a 5-inch long cave cricket on the "roof" of my bottom bunk, which I discovered only after his long antennas brushed against my forehead. It didn't help at all that the next day we were taken on a "nature" walk and had to slide on our stomachs through mud and squeeze through a horrendously narrow passage nicknamed "Augustine's Agony"...after a cow that got stuck between the rocks and died. Throw in the 1 latrine for 60 girls and the 3-walled treehouses we slept in and you have my personal hell. 

Plus, all of our treehouses were named after Beatles' albums, which I didnt know at the time. So when I first saw that I'd be living in the "Magical Mystery Tour" for a week, I was really creeped out. Thank goodness I wasn't in Revolver or Sgt. Pepper (they were our next door neighbors).

Wow, now that I've revisited that experience, I have a lot more to say on the matter. And on summer camps on general, but I'll save that for another day. I went to another camp a few years later and absolutely loved it. I think it was just that camp I wasn't a big fan of.

But anyway, how random to run into that girl after such a long time. It must have been almost 13 years! And we both recognized each other.  Very strange. 

Ok, I'm off to bed. Sorry I've been a tad negligent lately. I can't even being to tell you how busy I've been....yikes. I should finally have some free time soon, though. Yay!

4 comments:

Ali said...

Small, small world.

Something similar happened to me when I found out my friend from high school went to college with my friend from camp (who I hadn't seen in 14 years) and that they now live across the street from one another. Now we all hang out. It's odd.

What's also odd is that I hated my first camp too (the one said friend and I went to) and LOVED my second one.

Are we the same person? :)

erin - heart in ireland said...

wow! that is crazy! the world is really a super small place with how everyone knows each other.

hope you had a nice relaxing weekend :)

Bayjb said...

Yeah it is a very small world. That point is proven to me several times a day, lol.

Maris said...

What a small world! This all sounds like a plot from a movie!