Small world!

There are well over thirty million people living in the state of California. Of those, I think I might know about six... most of whom I have not seen in twenty years.

Today I ran into one of them. (Clearly, I need to start playing the lottery!)

Annie and I visited the Redondo Beach Farmer's Market this morning and after Annie ate her weight in strawberries, we set off for a little walk down the beachside path. We were strolling along and I noticed a woman walking towards us who looked vaguely familiar. She was wearing sunglasses and earphones and I only had a moment to get a second look... but suddenly it dawned on me that she looked an awful lot like the mother of my childhood best friend. I hesitantly called her name as she passed and then said it again, and she stopped and turned around.

Sure enough, it was Debra Sharits, Kelly Graddy's mother. We both couldn't believe it. It has to have been at least 20 years since we've seen each other. Debra has always lived in California - and I did consider looking her up while we were here but the town I thought she lived in is over an hour away. Turns out she moved to Redondo Beach when she retired and lives right up the beach from our apartment. We had a ball catching up briefly and are making plans to get together next week.

What's funny is that I also ran into Kelly's little brother, Jeff, several years ago outside of a Broadway play in New York City. This family has always been very special to me... interesting that fate has a way of keeping us connected!

:)