SMALL WORLD STUFF: I refuse to admit how much time I spent on this graphic, but here's hoping you overlook the fact that Coach and I have no legs. (me bright green top left, him at the bottom in the baseball hat). Maybe the sketch will help you follow along. There are layers here, so put your thinking cap on:
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| Note: Maire is colorless on the top left, the only one without a smiling face (I wasn't feeling overly creative so I went with a realist perspective). Tank's tongue is drawn to scale, obvi, from when he bit through it and he called H's husband, an ear nose throat doc, who gave him the 'I'm sure you're fine' speech. |
'H' - is a very fun woman, who has a son at Creighton. H's son is a senior now, a year younger than Tank, but one of Tank's best buddies.
Turns out H went to Creighton with Coach's oldest sister and Coach's BIL, class of '91.
H's daughter 'lil H' went to college at my alma mater and graduated in 2020. Guess who her roomie was? Lil H roomed with cousin M, my sister Marie's daughter.
In other words: Lil H and Boy H are siblings - one is besties with girl cousin M (has been for almost 10 years) and the other became best buds with Tank, not realizing for a few years that one guy's sister roomed with the other guy's cousin back in 2018ish timeframe.
Toss in there that the mom, H, graduated from college with Coach's sister, Aunt B.
I told Coach all of this in the spring when I returned from Mom's weekend, but if you've met a man, then you know. Coach only sort of listened,. We went to Creighton and saw H over the weekend. He'd completely forgotten the story. The connections blew him away . . . while I stood to the side, shaking my head, saying, "You knew this. I told you . . ." (kidding, I wasn't that dramatic, I've sort of learned to expect the in-one-ear-out-the-other issue).
When I met H at mom's weekend back in March, and we reviewed all the cross-overs, I sort of wondered if she was tight with my sis Marie. Their daughters had been roomies. Marie can be a stick in the mud. The more I chatted with H, the more I gathered that H was most likely the life of the party and not the stick/mud type.
Me: (clears throat) Well, I'm not very close with my sisters.
H: Ah, OK. Well, in that case, I gotta tell you a story. (right then I knew - we were gonna be pals). It was mom's weekend at Lil H's college, and a big group of us were on a pub crawl. Several people climbed into a cap and I had someone on my lap and I couldn't really see who all was in the cab. Plus I'd been, er, drinking. I called out to my daughter, Lil H, who was in the front seat. "Hey, Lil H, do you think Ms. Marie (my sister!) is gonna be upset if I'm a little drunko?" And Lil H calls back to me, MOM, MS. MARIE IS IN THE CAB! And I laughed and just said, Oh, hey Marie. Sorry, I just am not sure if you're gonna be annoyed if I've been overserved.
I died laughing, because this H woman had my sister's judgie persona down to a T. Hey, I may not be able to keep up with H's party-on lifestyle, but I'll be the one to hold her hair back if, you know, she needs it.
Anyone else have some wacky crossovers with other families? Or some other small world stories to share? Feel free to critique my sketch in comments. No one has green hair IRL, not that there's anything wrong with that, but the bag of colored pencils I grabbed was limited.
Love the graphic! No small world's lately here. But reading yours is always entertaining!
ReplyDeletembmom11 - I have another crazy - like really crazy story about seeing someone that I recognized YEARS after only casually meeting and I will share that later as it would've made this post book-length. I'm glad you like the graphic and that you found my 'splaining it entertaining.
DeleteI am beyond impressed by the graphic! It's giving off impressive Dr. Seuss vibes and I am here for it! I'm loving the knees!
ReplyDeleteGood thing she had been overserved; I bet it made her a lot less daunted by the fact your sister was actually in the car.
I live in a rural town in Nova Scotia. My life is one big version of It's A Small World After All!
Elisabeth - Dr. Seuss vibes - high praise! Thank you so much. The knees -knobby, can't go wrong with knobby. Can you tell I'm old? I'm feeling my age and expressing it in my art, I guess. I died laughing at the sister in the cab story. It's like a thriller, 'SHE'S IN THE BUILDING!'
DeleteHaha, love that story! When I gave birth to Xander, it was a busy time in the hospital and my midwife was running from room to room. After he was born, she was working on getting the placenta out and a nurse ran in and said the woman in the next room needed to push, and the midwife told her to try and hold on for a minute until she was finished with me. I felt so bad for that other woman, I mean who can stop pushing? A couple weeks later, my in-laws told us that a family relative (whom we didn't know existed, never mind lived near us) had a baby on the same day as Xander...at the same hospital...with the same midwife. When my in-laws came up for the Baptism of Xander, we went to church and guess who was at the Mass? The family relatives that we had never met before. They were parishioners at our parish! The in-laws introduced us all after Mass, and I asked the woman if she had been the one that the midwife asked to wait to push, and she said "Yes! That was because of you?!?!" and we became fast friends after that.
ReplyDeleteColleen - That is epic. So so funny. "I had to wait to push until they were done with you?" Bah ha ha. When I was shopping for carpet at our old house, and the kids were toddlers, the salesman asked how old Lad was. His daughter was the same age. I asked her b-day. SAME BDAY. He asked what hospital Lad was born at. Yep, same place. When he found out my name, he said he remembered seeing our last name on the board at the nurse's station. He thought, Wow, cool name.
DeleteThis story definitely needed a flow chart! Surprising because the schools are 3 states away from each other, I wouldn't expect to find overlap, but how fun that it happened!
ReplyDeleteJenny in WV - I feel so accomplished that you refer to my art as a flow chart. Yes, I should've pointed that out in the story - the mileage/distance from the two schools is significant. H. is from Michigan. It is so fun.
DeleteWow, that is a small world moment! I've had some small world moments. Here's one for you. Years ago I was set up on a blind date by a co-worker. His name is Jonah - he was really nice and we went on 2 dates and then I never heard from him. Flash forward 3 years later and I get set up on a blind date by a girl I went to college with that works with Phil. We got on 2 dates and then he invites me over to his apartment to watch the Vikings on Thursday Night Football. Well.... turns out that one of Phil's roommates is Jonah!! There were a lot of jokes about how Minneapolis is clearly too small if I was set up on blind dates, 3 years apart, by guys that were roommates (they were roommates when I was set up with Jonah and continued to be roommates until they all bought houses a year after Phil and I were set up)... it was awkward initially but Jonah and I shook it off. Now we are friends with Jonah and his wife, who were dating when I was set up with Phil.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised that H. picked up on Marie's vibe... it does not sounds subtle!
Lisa - OMG - I love this story so so much. It sounds like it's out of a romcom, right? totally blown away. I can imagine it was a little awkward, but I'm glad everyone ended up with the true love partner.
DeleteMarie def has a vibe and I cannot tell you how validated I felt when H noted it.
It sounds like your sister is the same wherever she goes. Maybe not always a good thing!
ReplyDeleteNance - Marie's college roomate's daughter also went to Creighton and we bumped into one another at freshman drop off like four years ago. We tried to connect whenever we were in town for parents' weekends, etc. I knew Mo was at a bar that we were driving by and sure enough she was outside the bar, so I made Coach pull over and I said hello to her. She was tipsy, but lively and funny and it was fun to cross paths. As we drove away, Coach was like How was she ever friends with Marie? I was like, Believe it or not, Marie was fun once. (I don't think one needs to be tipsy to be fun, trust me here. Mo is a vibrant, fun person regardless, and somewhere along the way, Marie just stopped being fun.)
DeleteOMG. I'm dying.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I disagree; no one looks good with green hair. NO ONE.
Your drawing/flow chart is brilliant. Could you print it, frame it, and hang it in the dining room next to the refrigerator?
Catching Marie's 'perspective' in the drawing had me in stitches.
The story of your sister in the car with H is hilarious! Your sister's reputation precedes her, and she should be embarrassed, alas, she isn't because that's who she thinks everyone should be. Buttoned up and un-fun!
The only crossover here is a bit lengthy. I considered sharing it on my blog, but I didn't want to reveal too many personal details about the people involved: my neighbors, the husband is part of our financial group that assists us with personal stuff, his wife who we'd not met formally was the realtor who sold us our house, but we didn't know they were married, and she didn't know he was representing us. We are currently close friends and neighbors....I also knew their son, long before I knew either of them, and sadly, he recently passed away. The son was a participant at Night To Shine for many years, and I had adored him, not knowing one day I would be friends with his parents and sister. There were so many ah-ha moments. It's crazy town!
Suz - Bah ha ha. No one looks good in green hair. Well on St. Pat's day everyone does. ;)
DeleteHang a framed copy next to the dining room fridge. It's like you've been here. I feel so seen. Nice reference. I was really angry with myself for taking the time to draw this thing, because lately time is in short fricking supply - and I thought, hell with it, I'm gonna draw her 'to scale' too, colorless. No smile. Glad it worked for you.
I so so love the story of the cab ride. It tickles me every time. H is my sort of people, so half of the hilarity is in her retelling of it. I was so skeptical when I was heading out there to mom's weekend. Tank was all pumped for me to meet H, but I was like Yeah, but she hangs with Marie? Not sure about this. And in a few minutes all was clear and I was like, Oh, you're a good egg. A person who knows how to laugh. She explained that her husband is one of 12 - TWELVE, and one is more nutty than the first. This is why they moved several states away from all of them. totally appreciate that.
That story is nutty - what a bunch of coincidences. Lots of crossovers indeed.
This is such a great story. Love how your friend had a Marie story that confirmed she is the same with everyone.
ReplyDeletePat - It is a funny story, isn't it? Yep, Marie continues to be consistent. She could star in one of those Progressive commericals.
DeleteI like your drawing. Things like that don't happen to me, but I do understand how it would happen to you. Made me smile.
ReplyDeleteAlly - Ha, thank you. I can't say I tried very hard. It was sort of a rush deal. I'm laughing at how you understand how it would happen to me.
DeleteMy Mom went to her 25th high school reunion and saw my best friend's Mom there. Turned out, they went to high school together. It had never come up. They didn't remember each other at all.
ReplyDeleteMy sister-in-law had two kids with the nephew of one of my Mom's best friends from high school. Same type of situation - she came with me to the Christening, and it was a "Marie, what are you doing here?" type situation.
Kara - That is crazy stuff. They had no idea they went to the same high school. And the christening run in - also wild. Good stuff.
DeleteThat's a great story! I've never had anything like that happen to me. I LOVE your drawing! How adorable! You've got people skills AND people drawing skills! I would love to see more!
ReplyDeleteMichelle - Isn't it a hoot of a story. So many layers. I so appreciate your high praise for my scribbles. I sketched the six bio kids as babies (sleeping, because the eyes were daunting) and I have them framed and hanging in my upstairs hallways. I used each sketch as their baptism invitation. My MIL hung the invite on her fridge for years and years. They were cards with the scanned sketch on one side and the invite on the back side. Can you believe that she faced the invite side out when showcasing it on her fridge? Like, What? How about the sketch that I made?
DeleteI'm here for the sketch art!! The facial expressions on everyone are too good. That is a crazy tangled web of small-world-ness! I don't have any stories to rival that but I do think it's funny that my childhood viola teacher's daughter and I both moved across the country to Pittsburgh (for entirely separate reasons) and often our parents come to visit at the same time and sometimes even on the same flight (this has happened multiple times without any advance planning or communication).
ReplyDeleteKate - Hee hee. Thank you. It's such a silly sketch, but I thought the topic warranted a visual aid. That is a crazy small world story. Getting on the same flights more than once? Wild indeed.
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