Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Six Degrees

On Good Friday, my friend Em and I went to McDonald's for a greasy, guilt-inducing breakfast. We ordered our sausage'n'egg McMuffins, and then moved to the side to await our salty feast. We giggled away as we read our horoscopes and discussed the events of the past week.

Em and I are always giggly together, like little girls. I have come to realize that this closeness comes from a profound connection between our "inner children." Hanging out with Em is like playing. When we're together, it always feels like we're about to embark on some grand adventure. Even if we're only going to McDonald's. We have the innocence of two little kids out to explore the brave new world, and it's always a lot of fun.

"Hey, do you guys know if Eaton Centre is open today?"

We turned to see a tall young man, smiling and looking at us inquiringly. While we weren't able to answer his question definitively, we did end up having a strange conversation with him about V for Vendetta and astrology. Standard fare when Em and I are together. Our order came up and that was that. Or so we thought.

Fast forward to Saturday night.

I went to this great new lounge/club in my neighbourhood to celebrate the launch of a friend's book. After a few hours inside, we headed outside for a break. Lo and behold! Who was standing at the door, but the guy from McDonald's! Talk about a coincidence! His name was Shaun.

Shaun ended up coming inside and hanging out with us for awhile. Now, here's the really weird part. As we were sitting in the club chatting, Smelly Belly looked over curiously. And then looked over again.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "You're my next door neighbour!"

It turned out that Shaun knew quite a few of the same people as we did. I love it when this kind of stuff happens!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is weird. But it's cool y'all made a new friend! So, what's the name of your friend's book, and more importantly...how is it?

Anonymous said...

It's a small world really... Orlando is soooooooo like that. I am constantly surprised, even though by this point I shouldn't be, at who I run into that knows someone I know or went to school with someone I dated or some other wierd coincidence.

Hey, have you read The Celestine Prophecy? I always think about the part where the author talks about talking to strangers that we keep running into. It's really interesting.

Anonymous said...

The world may seem very big but it's only a small village really.

About 15 years ago I started working where I work now and there was this scouser (guy from Liverpool) called Dave who I got to know. One day a few months in he said he was going to his brothers wedding at the weekend. He said he was marrying this girl who worked for the Bank I'd previously worked at. I asked where she worked - he said her name and what she did. I couldn't believe it - 6 months previously I'd been sitting at the desk next to hers 3 days a week working on a particular project!

I'm into spooky coincidences today.....

Anonymous said...

Um....could he be...you know...STALKING YOU!?!? I'm sure he's not, but he is into astrology - and you know what that means, eh?



Ya, I'm not really sure myself.

Anonymous said...

David - Actually, it's a children's book, and I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Amanda - I actually wrote my honours thesis on The Celestine Prophesy in university, but it's been a while. But I like to believe that everyone comes into your life for a reason.

Furtheron - That is really weird. I always feel like I'm connecting to something deeper when stuff like that happens!

Spoonman - Um...I hope not!!

Anonymous said...

A connection between your inner children--I love that! I have a friend who's like that. We giggle till our faces hurt when it's the two of us. Now I have to email her....