Small World

Laurel Falls

You know how people tell you it is a small world? It seems I forget until it smacks me in the face sometimes. Recently I have had two small world moments that I would like to share. One was here at home and the other was hundreds of miles away in the Smokey Mountains.

 A few weeks ago I was having my hair done and I was seated next to a woman who was talking about traveling and security at the airport. As she spoke I found myself becoming a bit of a nosey neighbor and listening to her conversation with her stylist, at one point I interjected a comment about something she had said. Apparently that was our bonding moment, because we than spent half an hour talking about everything under the sun. My new friend commented at one point that you have to be careful because you never know who knows who, or who you are talking to. At one point during the conversation, she mentioned her last name and it hit me that it was the same as my brother-in-law. I decided to see if she knew him. "Excuse me, are you related to Randy?" she replied "Is he married to Cathy?" "Yes he is!" I said. "Well, I am his Aunt, Randy's Dad and my husband are brothers! You see you really do never know who you might be talking to!" She added enthusiastically. We continued chatting a few more minutes and I walked away with the feeling that the moment was meant to happen, but wondered why.

 Last week as Mark and I traveled through the Smokey Mountains we took a trail up to Laurel Falls. I had chosen this trail because my cousin's name is Laurel and I wanted to get a picture of it to send to her. As we walked up this very long steep trail I kept complaining about the length of the trail and announcing quite often that I was certain that it was actually longer than the map had stated. Mark has a habit of trying to deflect these situations with humor, so when he said "Look, its Steve Andrew's" I immediately said 'NO ITS NOT!" and took a loving swing at him. Steve Andrews is the head pastor at our church and the odds of him coming down the trail we were heading up were pretty slim. Mark repeated the comment again "No really, there is Steve Andrew's". Still I focused on the three and a half foot wide path and the steep incline and snarped "IT IS NOT" as I looked up and came face to face with Steve Andrew's and his wife Paula. Mark shook his hand and Steve spoke with us for a couple of minutes and shared that they were there celebrating their 30^th anniversary. He told us to "Enjoy the falls" and went on his way. I ended up laughing all the rest of the way up the mountain to Laurel Falls.

 I find myself mulling over these random meetings now wondering what I should be taking away from them. Here are some thoughts.

1. Watch what you say and who you say it about
2. You can find a friend in the most unlikely place
3. Be friendly, it makes someone's day
4. Sometimes Mark is not joking, learn to take him seriously
   
    
5. 30 years of marriage is amazing and good to hear when you are on a retreat with your husband
   
    
6. Mountains are steep, marriage is hard, but you can get over the hard stuff and enjoy the falls!
   
    

Last but not least, Walt Disney was right, it is a small world after all!!