Trip away
We had an unexpected, but much enjoyed, night away on Monday. A couple of years ago, Stephen had seen a parked vehicle he liked and left a message on the windscreen. If ever you want to sell this, give me a ring. Naturally, he'd forgotten about it and was thus surprised to receive a message saying that vehicle was now on Trade Me. The owner had obviously kept Stephen’s note.
It was soon arranged for us to visit. As it was an hour and 20 minutes away and already 6pm, we decided to stay the night and deliver some CDs to a friend the next day - something we'd been meaning to do for a couple of months.
The 2003 ute was just as Stephen had remembered, in immaculate condition and low mileage. Now, he needed to decide if he still wanted that vehicle or if he wanted to keep the one he'd bought since leaving that note. It wasn't an easy decision, but in the end, Stephen opted to keep the one he has.
The ute owners were open and friendly. While Stephen checked out the vehicle, I talked to the son-in-law about the Gold Coast, a city he's recently moved from and one where I have two kids living. It turns out the area he moved from is the one where my son wants to move to.
Further conversation with the father, found he'd once lived in Aria and Pio Pio, two places I have also lived. Of course, we knew many of the same people, including this man's sister, whom I knew quite well when I lived there. A bit later, the wife came out and it turns out she worked for the local doctors in Te Kuiti, the same surgery, with the same doctors, that I went to as a child. It is a small world.
We continued our travels, staying the night in Kaikohe, catching up with a second-cousin, Lucy, in Rawene the next morning, dropping off the CDs in Opononi, back to Kaikohe for a visit to another friend and Stephen's brother and finally travelling home.
Lucy and I only discovered each other last year, after two further second-cousins made contact with us both. We all shared the same great-grandparents. My mother's father, whom I loved dearly, and Lucy’s grandfather were brothers, while the other pair's grandmother (they were first cousins) was their sister. It is amazing that we all live in such close proximity (two hours from each other) after all having shifted from various parts of the country. Lucy couldn't get over the fact that three of my children were born in Rawene hospital. Another coincidence.
There was a bonus in this visit too, as I met one of Lucy’s children and a grandchild. There was easy conversation between us all, even though we'd arrived unannounced, early in the morning, before some of them were even out of bed! The family was going out later, and had we called in on our way back from Opononi, would have missed them, so I was thankful for my intuition that chose the early visit. However, next time I will ring first.
We hear time and again that there is only two degrees of separation between people. This visit proved the case once again. It really is a small world.