Five degrees of Rick

A couple nights ago, Rick got a message that his friend Carl was in the hospital. Rick knows Carl because years and years ago Carl managed a book store near our house that I went to frequently and we got to know each other. Carl used to ask me to come work for him, since I was so clearly a book fanatic. I was never really in a position to say yes to that, so I played coy. A couple of years into our casual friendship, Rick needed a job and I went to Carl and said, “Hey, would you hire Rick instead?” and he did. They became friends. The person who let Rick know about Carl’s hospitalization is Brent, his son. Rick and Brent are friends as well because Rick started a guy’s Bible study – oh, years ago – and Brent was part of it.

Rick went to the hospital, where he sat with Randy’s parents, waiting for Carl to get out of surgery. Rick knows Randy’s parents because Randy was one of his students years and years and years ago when the world was young, back when my brother also hung out with Rick, back in the days when Rick was trying to catch my attention. (Naturally I played coy: it's what I do.) Randy’s parents were there because Carl’s wife and Randy’s mom happen to be sisters. Someone there tried to introduce Rick to them and they were all like, “Oh, no, we’re old friends.”

So then Rick was waiting for Brent (Carl’s son, remember?) to come up to the room. Brent finally does so and Rick asks, “What took you so long?” Brent says, “I was talking to Becca’s dad, ‘cause her grandmother is recovering from surgery here.” Rick says, “Vergene is here?” Brent and Becca are dating, which was one of those pleasant surprises for us when we heard about it. I remember shaking my head and saying, “Brent found Becca? What a small world…” See, Becca’s kin are people we have known for many long ages. Dave and Vergene, her grandparents, were pillars of our church for many years, and friends of ours. Kind people. Our kids ran around their farm growing up. As Rick stepped into Vergene’s room, Lori, their daughter (Becca’s aunt), greeted Rick with surprise. She was part of his volunteer youth staff team, also years and years ago. Rick visited Vergene, caught up with Lori for a while, and then came home.

Tomorrow, Rick is meeting Jordan and Amanda for premarital counseling. Jordan has been a friend of my son’s since they were both about five years old. And, you shouldn’t be surprised by this point, Jordan’s wonderful family lived next door to Dave and Vergene.

If we were in Alaska, all this interrelated stuff would not be surprising at all. Alaska's like that, just one giant small town. I used to have to remind myself to be extra careful and not talk about stuff I knew about people because like as not the person I wanted to mention would be the brother of the person I was talking to, or someone they used to babysit.

But we’re in Oregon, current population 3,559,596 (I assume that number includes us, if not: 3,559,598). We didn’t introduce any of these people to each other. I know, right? We're not good at stuff like that, but apparently it happens anyway, so it's ok. It had better be, 'cause you know us... If you haven't already, clearly you are going to fall into our vortex eventually.

We’re praying for Carl, that he recovers well. Be strong, Moose King.

love,

cat