Overlapping Degrees

I had the most bizarre realization yesterday.

They say you are connected to everyone in the whole world by six degrees of separation. Not knowing exactly how true this is, I recently found out that my network of connections has to craziest overlap - the kind that movies are made of.

It's more of a story about my dear friend Wana, whom I met as a student abroad in South Africa in 2002. We waited tables together in a small establishment. Fast forward to fall 2006, Wana is studying and working in England and I am living in Chicago. She hops on a plane to visit me for a week long adventure in the Windy City. We had a lovely time together, and she was quite possibly the best house guest I have ever had. On her plane home she meets a man named Richard who is a photographer, who is also travelling back to England after visiting some relatives near Chicago. They hit it off and are still dating.

Fast forward again to February 2007 - I'm sitting at stitch n bitch when a knitter who has never been to the group shows up, and it turns out she is Brittany, the person who has been living directly above my apartment for almost a year. But we had never actually talked before this. We hit it off and become good friends.

Fast forward to yesterday - Brittany and I are going out for lunch before she takes her flight to England to visit her father's family. She casually mentions that her cousin is picking her up from the airport there, with his girlfriend... a young woman from South Africa... whom he met on a plane back in October...

She mentioned the name Richard, and I said "Is he a photographer? My friend from South Africa has a boyfriend name Richard who's a photographer..."

"Is her name Wana??" Brittany asks.

And we both about died when we realized that her cousin in England was dating my friend from South Africa. If that isn't serendipity, I don't know what is.

Sarah & Wana at the Hancock building