It's a Small World After All

I've always known it's a small world, and not just because of the Disneyland song. I'm from a tiny town called Oakley, Idaho—and by small, I mean 600 people. And yet, everywhere I've gone, I meet people who knows someone from Oakley. Half the time I find out I'm related to them somehow. Insane, right? Here are a few examples.

• Freshman year of college, one guy and I become friends. We'd hang out, and he even illustrated a picture book of mine (which I've lost and I'm very sad). One day, he mentioned he has relatives in Oakley. We figured out that we're third cousins. Awesome. 
• Sophomore year of college, I got set up on a blind date, along with the rest of my roommates. We had a barbecue, hung out, and then I went home for the summer. When I got back, the guy was excited to tell me that his parents had attended a family reunion in Idaho. I laughed, because I'd dressed up for a pioneer for that very reunion. We're related. Not closely, but still.
• While in Australia, I met a guy who was an exchange student in Rupert, Idaho. That's about 20 minutes from my hometown. Blew my mind.
• I recently moved to a new neighborhood and found out that a girl I'd hung out with as a child (our parents were good friends and played sports together) had moved into our ward just before we did. Her sons and my sons are best friends now.
• I was at a writing retreat earlier this year, and found out a I'm related to a good friend through my dad's side

Crazy, right? It happens all the time. But this week the world got even smaller.

We headed to St. George to visit my husband's family, and had a great time while we were there. Swimming, eating, playing games, all kinds of awesome. 

Thursday night, we went swimming and saw a guy who had coached with Steve once or twice, and coached my kids a few other times. Random, but cool.

But then, Friday morning, we headed over to the Visitor's Center at the St. George Temple. If you haven't been there, you should. It had such a sweet spirit there, and the sister missionaries did a wonderful job as they showed us around.

And one of those sister missionaries happen to be the daughter of the bishop we had in Australia!! Now, we were pretty sure she'd be there. We'd seen a Facebook post from her dad just a few days before, but we were hoping we'd get to say hi. She was excited that we talked to her and it was fun sharing that experience.

While we were there, Steve's brother showed up with his family and we went through a couple of the tours together. 

The sister missionary taking this picture was from Frankfurt, Germany, which was part of Steve's mission!

Afterward, we parted ways, and my family headed off to the Children's Museum. The kids scattered once they got there and at one point, two sons came running up to tell us that our friends were downstairs. Heidi soon joined her best friend as they played at the various places, and I talked with her mom. Four hours away from where we both live.

So what crazy experiences have you had that made the world just a little smaller?