Worlds Collide

Just got the bowls I ordered on eBay. That was seriously the fastest customer service I've ever had through the post - ever - not just in England. From "click to purchase" to doorstep, they were here in less than two days. That's the good part. The bad part is that they reeked of cigarette smoke and they're the wrong size. Ugh. I don't even have the money or heart to mail them back. I'll just deal with having three big bowls and three medium bowls. And if you know me, you know that is a big freakin' deal. I'm almost a slave to uniformity. See? I'm growing in grace.


Anyway, we had our guests over last night, and I am excited to finally post that it was a WHITEFIELD GRAD and her English husband. Yeah. Susan is being supervised by the same professor as Nathan, and we all met at the said professor's house for a Christmas lunch he hosted for his students and their significant others. We arrived there and, after taking off our coats, Professor Ryrie looked to Nathan and Susan and said, "I think you both are from Atlanta." 


"What? That's weird. I haven't met anyone in England from Georgia at all," she said.


"Us either! Where abouts are you from?"


"Vinings."


"What? No way! We lived off of South Cobb Drive!"


"Crazy! I went to school off of that exit."


"Wait. Which one?"


"Um... it's a small Christian school. Whitefield Academy?"


Long stunned silence.


Nathan (pointing at me): "SHE TAUGHT THERE FOR FOUR YEARS!!!"


The room fell quiet, and all 12 people were staring at us.


It was pretty wild. What are the odds? It turns out she was in the same class as our friend Liz, which led to the telling of all our best Liz stories, including my personal favorite - the time she sneaked in a nine month pregnant belly's worth of Coke and snacks into the Fox theater using a big shirt and some Ace bandages to hold it all in... and then saw an old boyfriend.


Anyway, we told Susan and James, her husband, (another weird coincidence since my parents-in-law are Susan and James) that we'd have them over after the holidays, and we finally did last night. It got even weirder when, over some apple dessert cake, we discovered that Susan went to a prom hosted by Nathan's old high school with Nathan's brother's good friend. She double dated with Nathan's brother and his date, and they traveled to prom in a limo together. 


"Wait! You're Andrew Parker's brother?" she said, leaning forward with wide eyes.


I just flipped open the coffee table book of our wedding to the page with Nathan and his brothers. Susan stared at it incredulously and then started back at her apple dessert cake, thinking something along the lines of, "I'm so weirded out right now." It went on and on... she camped and worked at Camp Westminster, the same camp that all the Parker kids camped/worked at, she attended church where Nathan "fake attended" when he was in his rebellious years, she shared mutual friends from both places (camp and church), etc.


"Sorry Susan..." I said. "It looks like we've been sent by your past to haunt you."


And then we took some pictures.


Good times.

 The usual pose: Nathan, me, Susan, James

Liz (the blonde, not the Victorian angel) and Susan: high school classmates reunited, if only through a Christmas card.