We have all heard and said the following phrases

• “What are the odds?”
• “What a small world!”

In the past couple of weeks I have said these lines myself.

My “what are the odds?” moment came as I was watching the TV show College Game Day. For those unfamiliar with the show, it is hosted from a different college campus each Saturday during football season. Usually the location is home to a key match up for the day.

In August College Game Day was at my undergraduate alma mater Indiana University. Now, being the realist I am, I can soundly say IU is not a football powerhouse and likely never will be. We are a basketball school, it is Indiana after all. Therefore, we have no right to be host to College Game Day. They were there because it was the opening game of the college football season this year and we were playing a powerhouse, Ohio State.

A few weeks later I was watching College Game Day being broadcast from my graduate alma mater Penn State. Now, this made sense to me with PSU being a football powerhouse. But, that got me thinking “what are the odds College Game Day would broadcast from both my alma maters in one season – especially when one of those schools in Indiana?”

My “it’s a small world!” moment came this past weekend. As we hosted a garage sale my husband asked a gentleman in a Cleveland Indians shirt if he was from Ohio. Turns out not only is he from Ohio like me, he is from the same town, went to a rival high school, student taught at the same school my mom worked at, and his mother-in-law went to my high school. Let me remind you all of this happened on the Gulf Coast of Florida – 1,000 miles from Ohio! When I texted this tale to my mom I ended with the line “it’s a small world after all”.

I could go on and on with coincidences – but that would make for a very long and boring post. I’ll just close with a thought that yes, this is a great, big world with millions of us living billions of experiences – but how small it becomes when those millions and billions intersect to with a shared experience, school, hometown, or friend.

Walt Disney was right, “it’s a small world after all.”
(Being the Disney fan I am, I couldn’t resist the Disney reference!)