Roundup: “Small World”

Tuesday Sept 3, 2024
From the less messy desk of Amanda Eichstaedt…

Small World

Happy September everyone! These are the days of “lose your coat,” when the temps are cool and crisp in the morning and scorching by 3 PM. The hills are toasty brown and the blackberries are the sweetest.

I love small world stories. Those “what are the chances” situations where you run into someone in the middle of a busy European train station from your hometown, or show up to get on an airplane and are seated right next to a long lost pal from another state. Both of these things happened to me. And I once ran into a grade school friend in the tie department of Macy’s in NYC. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

Next week my “cousin” is coming to visit. He’s not really my cousin, but is related via marriage. Many years ago I lived in North Carolina. I moved there from Oregon where I lived on a communal farm with a dear friend. She had recently been to a wedding in Georgia where she reunited with a long ago sweetheart. Both unencumbered, they lit up romance anew and are still together to this day. She was visiting Georgia and she and her man were coming to North Carolina to visit old college pals of his. They invited me to dinner since I was now living one town over.

I show up, and the lovebirds head out for a walk, the wife of the couple goes to take a shower and I am there making awkward small talk with her husband. I blurt out that I have some cousins that live in North Carolina. He asks what their name is and it turns out that is his mother’s maiden name. In fact, he is my mother’s brother’s wife’s first cousin. When the walkers returned and his clean wife comes into the kitchen we are clinking beers and announcing that we are related.

Don’t get that small world song stuck in your head. photo: Pexels

This weekend I had another small word moment. Ken and I drove to wine country to a BBQ being given by a long time colleague of Ken’s. They worked together 30 years ago and have stayed in touch via similar interests, including bicycling and even radio. We see them rarely, but when we do, it is always a good time. They throw fun parties.

When I walked out on to the patio I was introduced to a couple who had gone to high school with Ken’s colleague’s wife. In fact the woman had gone to grade school with her, and all three had gone to the same high school. We were chatting away and it turns out this couple is renovating a home in West Marin and will retire there from the Central Valley where the wife is a professor.

We continue chatting and the man asks me if I am Amanda Eichstaedt. Yes, I am! He is a fan of KWMR and really appreciates the eclectic programming and strong sense of community that emanates from the station. As we are talking I figure out who I’m talking to. A Calendar Club member and true KWMR enthusiast. Aha, I always wondered about the issued checks from a Central Valley city! Now we are acquainted. We chat for a long time at the party. His wife was a recent guest on a KWMR program. They headed back to the Central Valley after the party, and we returned to West Marin.

Back when I used to run a B&B, there were lots of small world moments. Two couples checked in on the same day from Holland and don’t meet until breakfast the next morning, and it turns out they live two streets away from one another in Amsterdam. Or a guest checks in who looks really familiar and we both finally determine that she was one of my professors in grad school.

I do know a lot of people in West Marin, but not everyone. In fact, I know some of your names AND your faces but have not connected the names of long-time KWMR donors to the friendly faces that I greet and am greeted by at the market or post office.

It’s generally a good day when you meet a new cousin, run into a long lost pal, or meet a true KWMR fan in person!

Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager/Executive Director

p.s. This Thursday at 11 AM the presentation by Robert Reich that happened on August 18th at the Dance Palace, sponsored by Mainstreet Moms will broadcast on KWMR. The program will be archived and we will provide the archive link in the Round Up next week.

No AI was used in creating this column.