small world, part 3
We were going through airport security to leave Rarotonga in the Cook Islands in 2016 when I noticed one of the security agents looking at me closely. She was smiling, which is not unusual for the Cook Islands, as the people there are incredibly friendly, so I wasn't worried.
"Are you Jennifer?" the security agent asked. I said that I was.
"And is your husband [his name]?" she continued. Yes, he is.
"And are your daughters [their names]?" Yes, yes they are.
This was getting odd and I was getting nervous, but the airport person kept smiling.
"Your friend [name] says hello," she said.
Wait, what?
Now I was confused. My friend [name]? The only [name] I know lives more than 6,000 miles away from Rarotonga. What's going on here?
My new friend in Rarotonga put me out of my misery: It turns out that she and my friend had met each other through social media — they followed some of the same people, started following each other, and started chatting. So while we were in that part of the world, my friend told his new friend that we were there. Given that there weren't that many flights into and out of Rarotonga, the airport security agent knew who we were as we were passing through the security checkpoint.
Still, it rather blows my mind when I think about how someone I know in real life connected with someone I might possibly pass by while on the other side of the world and was able to pass on a message to me.
As the song goes, it really is a small world.
Related:
Whoa! Almost spooky but fortunately in a really nice way.
Wow!