It's a Small World (After All)

It’s funny how we live in a world with about 6 billion inhabitants, and yet we still run into people we know. Last Tuesday I ran into a girl from my freshman ward at Institute. I didn’t even know she had graduated, and now she’s here in Alexandria going to some Institute for International Politics up by DuPont Circle. A very pleasant surprise, though. Friday we ran into a classmate at the Orioles game up in Baltimore. Saturday I caught the Metro over to Eastern Market with my neighbor to see the Priesthood session. On the way we were talking about professors and we found out we were both in 310 together and we never realized it. (That was a lame class. The professor had an online syllabus so he could change it at will. So depending on when you got online to look at the assignment, it could be one of several reading selections. Several times we all showed up to class having read different assignments.) Then at Priesthood session my neighbor looks over and says, ‘Is that Mike Leavitt?” It was indeed none other than the former governor of Utah and current head of the EPA. Okay, I really don’t know him, but it’s not every day that I run into him in town.

I like the small world phenomenon, although it also comes in not-so pleasant varieties. One time I ran into my ex in the supermarket in Provo. (Ex #2, to be exact. That’s right. The bitter one.) We were both pushing our carts down the aisle looking for cream cheese at the same time. I didn’t even know she was living in the state, much less nearby, but there she was in the dairy section. She looked up, looked right at me, and then looked away and furiously ran her cart on down the aisle. Unfortunately for her, that was the direction I was going, so I followed her down the aisle. She hastily grabbed her cream cheese and hurried to the check out. Too bad I was about to check out too and we ended up in adjacent lines. She nonetheless avoided eye contact and rushed out of the store as soon as the bagger had placed the last bag in her cart. I found the encounter extremely entertaining, but I have no doubt she’ll go home and tell her roommates, “Aaaah, I just ran into one of my old boyfriends and he was following me around the store!” It’ll be very dramatic. As for me, I’m content with running into old friends. In fact, I wish it happened more often. I’ll have to intentionally run into a few of them when I move out of the District.