It's a Small World After All

Over the years we have had real unusual "small world" happenings in our lives, like taking our visiting foreign student to see the redwood trees in Muir Woods and having him run into a friend of his from medical school in Chile.

We used to tease Jeri's godmother, also "Jeri," that no matter where she went she ran into someone she knew.  The best example of that was when she was being wheeled into the delivery room and discovered that one of the labor nurses was a friend from high shcool.

Walt and I had another one of those experiences last night.  We had gone to see a production of A Christmas Story at Winters Community Theater.   They present their shows in the community center and seating is at round tables, seating 6, where you are served dessert and champagne on opening night before the show starts.

Walt and I got to our table first and seated ourselves, then another couple arrived.  They were from Dixon, about 10 miles from Davis.  She was a striking woman with long grey-white hair with black streaks yet she had a familiar look about her, but as we started chatting, there didn't seem to be any place where we might have crossed paths, unless it was at a different Winters show.  The next couple arrived.  They were from Woodland, 10 miles from Davis in the other direction.   She was very good at getting conversation going and soon we were all chattering about our lives, our work, our kids.  

The striking woman from Dixon mentioned that she worked at the University and had worked for years in the Development Department, raising funds for the university.  I asked her if she knew our friend Shirley Sparks, who had retired from the Development Department.  Shirley and I worked for years as typists for The Secretariat, and our daughters went to school together.  She and I were part of the loosest bridge group you'd ever meet, which would shock bridge afficionados.  

Anyway, the woman brightened and said that yes, she knew Shirley very well.  I mentioned that I hadn't seen her since we attended the 50th anniversary party that Shirley's daughter had thrown for her parents in Naples, New York several years ago.  The woman said she was at that party too!  It was a small party--fewer than 30 people, so that's obviously why she looked so famliar to me.   Odd, sometimes, how "connected" we all seem to be.

It was a different kind of "small world" we experienced this afternoon.  The local Philippine club  hosted a fund raiser for Typhoon Relief.  I didn't realize what a large Philippine community there is in the area.

I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever been to a more welcoming, friendly, and helpful fund raiser.  A gentleman greeted us at the door as if we were long lost friends, explaining about the food and then turning us over to two other people who found us a table. I actually thought he must know Walt from church or something, since the event was being held at the Catholic church, which Walt still attends regularly.  But Walt said he'd never seen him before.

I swear each table must have had three servers, all smiling and eager to do whatever they could to please you.  The food had all been cooked by the community and it was an assortment of Filipino cuisine from Lumpia (the Philippine equivalent of Chinese spring rolls), some chicken curry dish, chicken adobo, plain rice, and rice noodles, along with two delicious deserts, one like a flan and the other a cassava cake, with coconut that I would love to get the recipe for.

The community came out in large numbers.

I saw at least one former mayor, who is Filippina, and our current Assembly woman.  We didn't see Ned's sister-in-law, who had invited me to attend the event.  She later admitted she had forgotten.

There was a photograph album of relatives living in the Philippines now, and a slide show about the aftermath of the typhoon and the work that is being done to rebuild the hard-hit areas.

Some kids did a bamboo pole dance and invited members of the audience to come and try it with them (I didn't see anybody volunteering)

There was a big table where people had made handcraft items to sell.   A family agreed to match all the funds raised through the sale.

I ended up buying a pair of earrings and a bag of chocolate covered almonds.

We didn't linger, but when we left about half a dozen people told us goodbye and thanked us for coming and the friendly greeter at the door practically hugged us in his exuberance.  It was a real feel good event and I hope they raised a lot for typhoon relief.  I felt a little closer to Fred, making this big world of ours just a little smaller.