Old Friends

So I've had two "small world" experiences in the past month. First, I was in Phoenix, a place I've never been before, and decided to have breakfast at the restaurant. I wasn't planning on taking advantage of the free coupon that had come with my reservation - there was supposed to be breakfast provided at the meeting I was going to - but I've been trying to increase my protein intake. And a hot breakfast at the hotel was more likely to include eggs and some kind of meat. I'd already been virtuous that morning, going for a 3-mile run on the track around the resort complex (lots of jackrabbits - another story for another time). Eating protein for breakfast, without a lot of calories, would just add to my virtue.

So I headed to the hotel. But now I was running behind. I didn't have a whole lot of time to eat. My colleagues had already eaten. We were supposed to start the meeting at 8. It was 7:40. Time was running short. Would I have enough time to eat? Or would I end up with a carb-heavy breakfast after all because it would be done quicker?

I got to the hostess stand and there wasn't anyone there, so I just wandered in a little further. There I ran into the hostess/waitress/manager, some combination of those things. She put me at a table, and then took my coupon and my order. I ended up with eggs and bacon, after all. I figured I'd eat what I could before I had to run across the street for my meeting.

As the waitress/hostess was taking my order, I thought I recognized her voice. As I was eating, I thought about it some more. But as I said, I'd never been to Phoenix before. So how could I know her? I ate my eggs and some of the bacon (it wasn't very good bacon), and then needed to pay for my apple juice, which wasn't included with the free breakfast. So I was trying to get the waitress/hostess' attention so I could pay and leave, when she came over with the check. And she said, "Do I know you? You look really familiar."

I said, "You know, I had the same thought. I thought I knew you too. "

"Did we work together somewhere?"

"I'm from the DC area. This is my first time to Phoenix."

"I only lived in DC for a short time. I only worked at a place called America."

"I worked at America!"

So it turned out that she was the assistant manager at America, a restaurant that I worked at when I had lost my job and was thinking about going to get my MBA, and so was working as a waitress while I was looking for my next job or getting into an MBA program. She had been from Arizona and had moved back, and was now the manager of the restaurant at the resort where I was staying. Small world.

Then last night, I was hanging out at a bar where another friend bartends on Friday nights. A bunch of us, who really only know each other from the bar, were talking about life and TV shows and random thoughts. The soundtrack at the bar started playing Van Halen's "Right Now." I said, "I did my weapons form for my second degree karate exam to this song." More conversation ensued and I mentioned my instructors' first names. And then Caitlin says, "Nelson? What was Nelson's last name?"

"Estrada."

And Caitlin said, "I knew it! I know Nelson. At least I knew a Nelson Estrada that did karate, so I thought it might be him. Nelson was good friends with my brother Kieran. We all went to high school together."

Caitlin and I are also friends on Facebook. So I got out my new iPhone, which I have to admit I'm a bit obsessed with, and checked for Nelson on Facebook. Well, there were a ton of Nelson Estrada's on Facebook. And too hard to see on the small screen in a dark bar which one was the Nelson we knew. So I tried Ray, his brother and another of my instructors. And it turned out Ray was on Facebook.

So today, Ray confirmed me as his friend on Facebook. And I found the right Nelson. And I told him to contact Caitlin.

Small world.