It's a Small World

A few years ago Gary and I got into a discussion about the theory of the "Six degrees of Separation," also known as the "Small world theory." We never did quite figure it out, but when I googled it, this was one of the explanations:

"Six degrees of Separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is on average six steps away from each person on Earth." Want to get further confused, go to: File:Six degrees of separation.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was reminded of the "small world" concept today. While I don't know how accurate the statistics are, I am often amazed at how small the world is, especially within the church community.

I was down at Kelly Services getting fingerprinted (somewhat intimidating) and talking with the employment lady. In our conversation it came out that she had only lived here for a year. When I asked where she had lived before, she mentioned California and asked if I had ever heard of Modesto. I told her I knew it well, as my brother lives there. She asked me who my brother is, and when I told her she said, "You are Tom's sister?" She couldn't believe it, and said how much she loved Tom. She said she had known him for many years, had lived in his ward at one time, and that when he was a high counselor that he gave the most wonderful talks. We talked about his children and what they were doing. Then she said, "well you obviously know Lynn P, who is Tom's cousin and who is the mother of my best friend."

All this from someone I had never met before.

What are the odds?

It made me proud to be Tom's little sister.

(Yes, Tom, I'm sucking up to you so you'll buy
me dinner or something this summer).