Weirdest Day Ever
Saturday, Tom and I had just finished our menu tasting
for the reception, and he dropped me off, so that I could go to the Pig
and wait to give Little N a ride to work. I have a book or two
with me, of course, and Little N had just called to tell me to pick her
up at 1, and were there any fun people there. I told her that a
contingent of Saluki people just sat down, so I figured they were fun.
Normally, I'm not all that friendly to strangers that swoop in to the
bar, like these guys did, clear bent on wanting all the attention in
the room. Mostly it's because I'm just not a friendly person by
nature, and also because I think my indifference lends itself to my
aura of mystery. But, something nagged at my sub-conscious and I
finally broke down and asked the guy next to me what year he
graduated. It was no surprise when he said 1991, and it was also
no surprise when I asked where he lived and for the first two years
he'd lived on the 9th floor of Schneider (which is where my boyfriend
at the time lived).
"Did you know any of the people in the Flight Program."
"Um. Yeah, like almost all of them."
"Any of them Alpha Eta Rho."
"Yeah, like most of them." He started rattling off names (knew
him, had a little thing with him, knew him, knew him, the name sounds
familiar, still one of my best friends, had a BIG little thing with HIM
the summer of 1990, etc.)
It was just unbelievably weird, that part of my past snaking into the
present. It was the second time in a week, too, that I got to say the
word Wapatuli. I was especially tweaked by the fact that some of them
still know MM (the guy from the summer of 1990). When I left to
get Little N, I asked them to say hi to him for me, and then over my
shoulder added, "But, don't tell him I got fat."
But that's not all.
After the Missouri State game, I went up to Phelans to see Tom and his
son, who were eating dinner, and decided to hang out at the bar with
the Flipster, who, along with the other people at the bar were playing
Coaster Poker. Everyone except the nice looking guy to my
right. We got to talking, and although he didn't find my
comparison of him to Adam Sandler complimentary, we established he was
Italian (as opposed to Jewish or Arab). I asked for his last
name. It's not a particularly common Italian last
name, and it is also the maiden name of my grandmother. We
established that there is about a 95% liklihood that his grandfather
(who has another uncommon first name) and my grandmother were siblings,
which means that we share a set of Great Grandparents, which I believe
makes us 2nd cousins.
But, that's not all. In the course of this discussion, I told him
that the only other person, besides family, I knew with that last name,
married a girl who I had been friends with in high school (and who Red
Bud became friends with in Law School). I mentioned that
they live in Rockford. He asked for my friends name. I
blurted out her first name, but before I got to her last, he'd provided
it.
"She married my brother." So, in one day, I gained not just a new
cousin, but found out that I'm related (my marriage) to TD. And
more importantly, her kids (she had twins recently), are my second
cousins once removed. Her mother, who forbade her to hang out
with me and my friends sometime around our Sophomore or Junior years
will be glad to hear this, I'm sure.
It was a weird day, and it all just exhausted me.
