I’m always amazed at how small the world is at the end of the day. Friday proved just this theory. And mind you, proven without the wonders of the internet or facebook.
So Friday we have some fabulous clients drive down from Jacksonville, FL. They were in the warehouse talking to the Tall Guy and here they come in the office, Oh my gosh, you must talk to them, they’re from Montana. I’m laughing, because well it can take 12 hours to drive across the state, but who knows, maybe I’ll know them.
Cut to the chase, we get talking and they are from Missoula, MT which is where I went to school for undergrad. But the story gets deeper, it then seems that I recognize the husband who was a police officer in Montana and while he doesn’t recall, I seem to think he gave me my first ever automobile ticket. (Not like I’ve made a career of getting tickets or anything.) The ticket was for Running a Stop Sign, altho my big brother at the SAE fraternity told me later that what I did was considered a California Stop or Running Stop. Pause, look, keep going
As if this isn’t funny enough that here I’m sitting with someone who gave me my first ticket, selling them restaurant equipment some twenty two years later (yes I went to college as a really young thing) but then it seems they know some family friends who are pillars of the community and were instrumental in building an authentic wooden carousel. Now I’m starting to share my age a bit, because their 18 year old daughter starts squealing, yay! Jessie was our babysitter. I pause a minute and realize, Jessica was the daughter I NANNIED for… so the kid I nannied for is now nannying. GRAY HAIR SUDDENLY POPS!
Then they tell me “Jessie” has her Master’s Degree and is teaching elsewhere…
GRAY HAIR SUDDENLY POPS!
Of course this comes in the wake of a fiasco I had a few weeks ago. You are sooooooo gonna love this story:
A few weeks ago I go out with friends to a club. After a few hours I tire, this isn’t my scene anymore. I’m more of a cigar bar person with a piano and some chill music, to be honest.
At the front door there is this young gal just doubled over looking for the Porcelain God. Everyone’s aside looking at her like she’s some strange alien; you know me, control freak take control! I move her away from the door, go inside and get her some water, direct the bouncer to get a bucket of water to clean out the front door area and get the gal situated. She begins to tell me her story, she’s backed out of a wedding, etc etc
Meantime her friend comes up and looks at me, says, you look familiar.
I say, could it be that we’ve been in the same bar for a few hours?
She says, no, no YOU look familiar. What’s your name?
I tell her my name, she says, no, what’s your last name?
<insert sinking feeling in my stomache>
GRAY HAIR POPS OUT. I tell her my last name. Another GRAY HAIR POPS OUT.
She starts yelling, mind you we’re in front of this nightclub, others are out there too. She yells, pointing at me, very excited, YOU were my favorite English teacher ever in Middle School. You changed my life. I’m a write because of YOU.
Meantime I’m thinking <GRAY HAIR POPS OUT>, great! I now have former students who are old enough to frequent taverns, nightclubs and bars… and let’s just say she wasn’t the youngest person there.
I laugh and smile, life is good. I had the opportunity to affect this gal’s life and who knew it?
So, anyhoo, when you come into One Fat Frog you’ll know me because I have a lot more gray hair this week. My hairdresser the divine, fabulous and miraculous Jessie of Shagg’d in Winter Park, FL calls me Hurricane Hair, but I think he may now be ordering a pallet of haircolour to wash that gray right out of my life.
Well, thanks for the memories… hope you guys are laughing with me. It was a lot of fun for sure…
Life is simple, isn’t it? And fun. And exciting. And mysterious.
And I can’t wait to see how I’ll earn the rest of my gray hairs… I feel a few coming on this week!