Friendship links and my birthday loot

My sister-in-law Beth and I had known each other for years when she mentioned a friend from her early high school days. The girl had an unusual last name. I asked if the girl had blond hair, brown eyes, glasses and so on. Yep. The girl had gone to my grade school. Beth and I didn't grow up hundreds of miles apart, but still, this was a surprise connection.

Do you find that some people seem to know everybody? I don't mean that boastful person who pretends to know all the celebrities. I mean the person who knows your sister's husband's childhood babysitter; your cousin's ex-wife's brother-in-law; your dentist and his dog walker.

There is a woman the age of my sons in my knitting group. She had a common maiden name. One year as graduation season approached, a woman in the group asked if I had graduated from the high school in the city where the yarn store is located. I said no, I was from XXX city. The young woman, Lindsey, asked which high school in XXX. I told her. What year? I groaned and said it was 40 years ago. She said her dad graduated from there 40 years ago too, did I remember him?

Bingo! Not only did I remember him, I grew up down the street from him. We went through 13 years of school together! Stranger still, when I was dating hubby and he bowled on a league, this man walked in and got the look of recognition on his face and walked toward us. I smiled thinking he was coming to say hi to me. No, he knew hubby from their teenage years when he worked across the street from the market where hubby worked. Years later the guys worked together and I officially met Lindsey at company picnics, but she was a little girl and I was chasing after my boys then.

Over the past two years Lindsey and I (along with other women at knitting) have discovered common links through casual conversation. Lindsey fondly remembered visiting her childhood friend's grandparents at their cottage in the same locale as ours. A few minutes of discussion later...she was talking about the cottage across from ours! Her friend's parents who now own that cottage live two houses away from my son who hosted the party.

The theory of 6 degrees of separation is true as far as I'm concerned, and Lindsey and others like her are in the inner circle that connects all of us. I was happy to see Lindsey at my party the other night and half expected one of my sons or my daughter-in-law to know her from someplace. That didn't happen, but they know a lot of people in common.

A close friend of my kids, someone I've known since they began high school, was at the party. She and Lindsey know one another, their moms used to work together. My daughter-in-law's mom knows Lindsey's mom from a club they used to belong to years ago. That info came out when we moms were working on wedding invitations and I relayed the story of Lindsey and I discovered so many links. For some reason I mentioned that Lindsey's mom had an uncommon first name. Once I said her name, my daughter-in-law's mom correctly guessed the last name.

See? Your mom was right. Don't talk about people because you don't know who knows who!

My kindergarten buddy that I mentioned yesterday knows Lindsey from where she works. My daughter-in-law's mom knows the daughter of one of my dinner buddies through church. Another friend who doesn't live nearby is trying to figure out if she knows one of the gals my sons' age or if she just looks familiar. She meant to ask her Saturday night but the woman is my age. She got distracted, went on to another conversation and left before working her way back to the girl.

It isn't easy being a social butterfly. We "mature" butterflies appear forgetful but we're just super busy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Now for my loot. Boy, oh boy, did I hit the jackpot!

East of Eden was an important book to my kindergarten buddy and I one summer. The page on the left is a list of quotes about friendship. The wine is Merlot, the wineglass is decorated with birthday wishes and full of Hershey Kisses. There are gift cards to book stores, yarn stores and Joanns.

The earrings are from hubby, the candle holder (blue!) and perfume are already upstairs. There is a gift card for a very nice restaurant and look at all those lottery tickets!

A necklace and the charm reads "There's nothing better than a good friend except a good friend with wine"

The three items with the d'marie label were called "party in a gift bag". The burgundy and white box is a cocktail to be frozen. The small tin is an herb mixture to mix with mayo, sour cream and wine to crate a dip to be eaten with the crackers in the green box. I can't wait to try this.

Mini loaves pan and flatware for the cottage. Where do missing spoons go? Are they with orphaned socks somewhere?

Yay!!! And it is cobalt blue!!!!

Isn't this cute?

 

Someone knows me well! I can still wear it while serving carry out, right?

Hubby seems to think it is time for things to return to normal around here and I should get busy. The remodel/redecorating continues so this isn't normal but it is busy.  I may lose internet for a while during the office floor installation. Technically I won't be down that long, but I don't do well posting from my iPad. Hopefully I will be able to visit others and leave comments, provided that boss of min doesn't catch me!