SMALL WORLD: LIFE IS STRANGE
I’ve previously discussed my favorite road trip small world story: in 2006, I was in Oklahoma City OK when a chance conversation led to the realization that someone I’d known for years through a message board forum was taught by my grandfather in small-town Oklahoma years earlier. Today, I tell a different vignette.
Just weeks before the Chicago Cubs clinched the 1984 National League East Division title, Dad & Mom traded in their (er, “my”) car, a 1976 Monte Carlo that started my automotive love affair. Red, a tall & foreboding guy (at least, to this at the time 10-year-old kid), was the salesman at the local dealership who promised this kid “his” car would be taken care of well. That was 31 years ago this month.
Quantum leap to September 2008.
Out running errands on a mid-month weekend, Dad saw Red at a local store. Red, no longer a car salesman, was then an entrepreneur with a business taking care of wheel covers & other miscellaneous automotive parts. Dad gave me Red’s card & I filed it, planning to call him. But, another scenario was in the works.
A few days later, Friday, September 19, I took the day off work & decided to drive my “sunny day only” cars to celebrate my birthday. I arrived at Phil & Sandy’s, where they were stored, & ended up chatting with Phil a bit longer than planned; I had, after all, wanted to spend most of the day driving. But, as always, it was good to see Phil & spend time talking with him. I finally got “on the road” ~11:25a, reminding myself that “everything happens for a reason” & just being happy to have a gorgeous, sunny day for the festivities.
As part of those drives, I decided to get gas in all of my cars. During 1 of those stops at the only gas station in Burlington IL, a white van wheeled into the gas station lot. I only noticed it because of the name of the company on the side of it; I thought it sounded much like the name on Red’s business card. Oddly, though, as I continued pumping gas into my car, I didn’t think much more of it. But, then, I heard:
“Nice car, kid!”
I turned around, smiled & said thank you. The gentleman then asked me my name. Generally, I don’t like to yell that across the way at a place with all sorts of strangers, but since I already had a hunch who it was, I told him. The man nodded & said: “You know who I am already, don’t you?”
I grinned & said: “Of course! Hi, Red!”
We then had a nice, short chat. What car was I gassing up at the time? Fittingly, my own (now former) 1976 MC.
Funny how things work out sometimes. Who’d a thunk back in September 1984 that 24 years later (September 2008) I’d be driving my own 1976 MC & see & chat with the guy who “took” Dad & Mom’s (“my”) 1976 MC in on trade. If I hadn’t talked to Phil as long as I did that Friday morning, I may not have even had that chance meeting with Red.