Twenty-one years ago, I played the part of Pepper (sounds like “picked a peck of pickled Peppers”) in the A-Town H.S. production of the musical Annie. Twenty years ago, I played third horn in the All-County Band. Two decades later (and 2 nights ago), I took Vi and friend to see Annie at my alma mater Roberts Wesleyan (where playing horn in the Wind Ensemble was among the highlights of my college experience). The orphans hard-knocked our socks off and Daddy Warbucks was portrayed splendidly by Jeff Wilson, my All-County and Roberts Wesleyan horn section mate. What a delightful performance! I do love live theater (of the family-friendly variety). And I cherish connections—delicious, deep-rooted connections to this area and its people. That was kind of complicated and convoluted, wasn’t it? But that’s the way these associations tend to work. “I knew So-and-so from 4th grade and ended up being suitemates with her cousin in college, and then So-and-so’s brother ended up marrying my next-door neighbor.” That was a bad example. I should have used a real one. Here’s an actual for-instance that came up just the other day: The stepfather of my best friend from 6th grade through college passed away last week. I went to calling hours Thursday evening but then decided to refrain from attending the funeral on Friday because I had Pearl with me and didn’t trust her to stay sufficiently silent during a solemn service. Late Friday afternoon, Vi and I went for haircuts at our favorite salon down the street. During the course of our usual salon chair chit-chat, I came to understand that my friend’s stepfather had been the uncle of my hairdresser’s husband. See? The real ones are even more convoluted than the made-up ones. “Truth is stranger than fiction,” said Twain.
3 comments:
Here are some more odd connections you might enjoy, Marsha. My grandma Laubacher (my dad's mother) used to be Tim's mom's 4-H leader. Tim's grandpa, Joe Dibley, once dated my grandma Laubacher after both of their spouses had passed away. Tim's Grandpa Roth used to be on the same bowling team with my Great Grandfather, Arnold Licht. We only realized that about 10 years ago. Amanda Patterson (Murphy now) was my best friend all through childhood, but we didn't find out until AFTER Tim and I were married that they are actually cousins (They have the same great grandmother). Truth really IS stranger than fiction.
A very entertaining post. These connections always seem endless.
My most recent weird connection is a young mother who adopted from Vietnam at the same time as Karin. That family had experienced an unusual stall in their process while they were IN Vietnam, forcing them to be there for a month and still come home with only one of the two babies they had adopted. They had to find a foster home for the second baby until her paperwork was straightened out. That was the precursor to Aria's problems. Karin had told me that story, but she didn't tell me that this mother graduated from Furman the year before Karin did! I learned that by reading this family's story in the Furman Alumni magazine after Karin's death. I found this person on FB last week. She told me that Karin did know about their Furman connection and that they had emailed several times! Then we discovered that she grew up in Cuba, NY -- across the hill from my Richburg!
Long and convoluted, for sure, but still intriguing coincidences. You can't make that stuff up!
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