The World Can't Be That Small

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an industry event in Summit, NJ. I'd never been to that town, and the only people I knew were at that event. Or so I thought. After leaving the event, I stopped outside the downtown office building to make a call. As I was dialing, I heard a woman calling my name. I turned around, and this woman was standing in the doorway of the business next door, waving at me. I totally did not recognize her, so I said "You have to help me here." Her reply wasn't really helpful. She asked, "Where am I standing?" I told her she was standing in a doorway. It turned out to be a salon. Still, I had nothing. She finally gave me enough of a hint that I remembered. It was a woman I worked with at my first "real" post-college job, and she was an aspiring stylist back then. Now we hadn't seen each other is 20+ years, and I never would have recognized her. Now we're talking about what happened to everyone we used to work with, and someone should start a Facebook group from DISC.

Today, I tried out a new hair salon near home. The stylist is a former neighbor. I related to her the story I shared above, and as I finished, a woman came out from the back of the shop, stopping right in front of me, looking me dead in the eye. Once again, I'm at a loss, but this time she didn't make me guess. The salon owner turns out to be an old friend from my SAR days. She named the business after her daughter, and I just never would have known. And this was another person that I haven't seen in 20+ years.