Romper Room at Chesterley

Wife called me at my office early yesterday afternoon and said, "Hugh's Missis called, and she's stuck in the middle of the highway with the two kids. I'm going to go help them."

I mentioned a long time ago that Hugh and I knew each other in high school. He and his family used to live here in Small College Town (SCT). Our wives met a couple of years ago when taking our respective children to a Kindermusik class; they were chatting and realized they were both married to people from suburban Chicago who attended the same high school. Badda-bing, badda-boom, a more-recent connection was made between Hugh & Rob, though we STILL haven't seen each other since 1987!

Hugh et al no longer live in SCT, but they are close enough that they come here once in a while. Unfortunately, their family car broke down on the one highway out of town yesterday as they were heading home. They were not really very far out in the country when this happened: they were able to make it to a local winery, one of SCT's many tourist attractions. Wife and Son met Hugh's Missis and the Two Kids (wine was not consumed till later), and they made an afternoon of it here in SCT while the car was being repaired. We're thankful that Missis thought to call on us, even though she and Wife hadn't seen each other in a couple of years, and she and I had never met. The car was repaired at the beginning of rush hour, so Wife invited their family back to Chesterley to detox from a rather stressful afternoon in order to avoid heavy Friday traffic on the one major road out of SCT.

I came home from Assistantship Work Day to a house filled with kids, toys, and a very happy Chester who had fun herding everyone from one room to another. It was great to finally meet The Missis and The Kids. We enjoyed pizza for all and wine for the "grownups" before sending them on their way in a repaired car back to their home. Missis called later on to report that all was well on the return trip.

What a neat experience it was to make this connection through serendipitous relationships! Hooda thunkit 17 years ago that our families' paths would cross in the middle of SCT?