I grew up and have mostly lived the suburban life. It was great, it was fine. When I left my deep-red state two years ago to move out west, I ended up in a small town near a decently large city. One Direction Planes is surrounded by farmland and a growing number of data centers. ODP has a population of about 3400 in the city limits with another 2200 in the outlying area of the same zip code.

I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t expect I’d be walking to “downtown” whenever the weather cooperated. And when I walk, I typically run into at least one or two folks I know. I didn’t expect to find friends among my apartment complex neighbors. I didn’t expect to find a community of like-minded social justice activists. I didn’t expect to find some great volunteer opportunities. I’ve been here less than two years and have had to schedule a series of goodbye lunches/coffees/beers/meetups! I certainly didn’t expect to find someone who is from the city I had moved from and also someone who I worked with more than 40 years ago!

One day I walked into the local library wearing a distinctive t-shirt with the team logo and colors of the university where I worked previously. The librarian looked shocked and asked why I was wearing the shirt. It turns out she was born and raised less than 5 miles from where I last lived. Hi Emma!

Another day I was volunteering in our local food bank. Carol came in to ask about volunteering and we chatted. She came back later that day after I’d sent her an email with more information to let me know she used to work with somebody with my same last name. After I internally rolled my eyes, we discovered that we worked for the same small company in a state on the opposite side of the country more than 40 years ago. Hi Carol!

It is a small world.