Vacation Fun 2: Small World, Hun?

We got to Joy's family on Monday, and had a good time.  However, I noticed one odd thing about our conversations. 

Almost all of our conversations revolved around proving over and over again the same  point.  Our conversation can be summarized in one sentence. 

'It’s a small, world, huh!' 

Most of the conversation was about hooking together people, places and things  in unrelated places, and then being amazed at the connection, however tenuous.

Witness the following conversation:

'I met a man a the store last night.  He told me that he used to live in Charlotte, North Carolina,  where you guys live.  His name is Bob. Maybe you know him.   Small world, huh?"

'No, but Bob was my brother's nephew's middle  name.  Never met him, though,  I had heard  of him. Small world, huh?"

"Say, I had a brother, too.  He was named Wally.   He was  Presbyterian.    Small world, huh?"

"Really?  I once lived next to a Presbyterian church.  The pastor's name was  Sheider or Shnieider,  something like that.

Maybe you know him.  Small world, huh?"

"Can't say that I have. But I wonder if he's part of the family that makes  Shneider's Pretzels. I love those things.  I used to date a girl who ate Schneider pretzels. If you're interested in pretzels, I can get you her number.  Small world, huh?"

"Pretzels are German, I think.  One of our ancestors was German, too.  Small world, huh?"

"Really,  I once owned a German shepherd.   Small world, huh?"

. . . And so it goes. 

Oh, the pleasant days we have spent  proving over and over that it is a small, small world, finding connections between people over the smallest things.   

But really, the world is not so small. It's big and wide and full of strange, unrelated things.  Whenever I travel, I am not struck by the connections of life, but the infinite differences. No one person is completely like another.    No one sees the world the same as another.  We are as unique as snowflakes. 

Travel gives us the chance to see the endless variety of the world. No two barns are the same, no two trees are precisely alike.  We  can spend eternity describing the beauty of each leaf on a single tree.

We enjoy connections,  but even more the disconnections.  The more we know about the wonderful differences, the larger the world becomes.