A Very Small World...

Not long after getting got out of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1987, I went to work as a police dispatcher in Clovis, New Mexico. I had only been in Clovis for a few weeks and did not know anyone there except for my parents who had moved to town a few years earlier. While I was going through the training process for new dispatchers I met one of the full-time operators who had been there for several years. Over the next few weeks that I was undergoing training, Becky and I would exchange pleasantries and jokes and go about our business.

The strange thing was, that every time I saw or spoke to Becky, it was if I had met her before - long before ever arriving in Clovis.

Finally, I got up the nerve and asked Becky about her personal life, like where she was from, etc. We started exchanging information about our backgrounds and although she had no feelings of familiarity about me, she understood how convinced I was that we had met before. Sometime during our conversation one evening, I mentioned that I had been in the Coast Guard. Becky gave me a funny look and said "You know, my brother-in-law is in the Coast Guard."

I immediately asked Becky what her brother-in-law's name was - off course not expecting whatsoever to recognize the name, I mean - there are over 30,000 people in the Coast Guard, but I had to ask anyway.

Becky told me the man's name was Brian Davis (I've changed the names in this story for the sake of personal privacy for the others involved). I just sat there looking at Becky like a deer in the headlights. Becky asked me what was wrong.

"You are Brenda's sister aren't you?"

It was Becky's turn to stare at me with her mouth open.

Come to find out, I had once been stationed with Becky's brother-in-law and his wife for over four years at a Coast Guard facility in the mid-west. I had been to their home several times for dinner and had even house sat for them once. I hadn't seen or spoken to the couple in the two years since leaving that duty station and getting out of the service.

Becky and I just sat there in amazement. It was no wonder that Becky had seemed so familiar to me, she looked and sounded a great deal like her sister Brenda!

We called Brian and Brenda that night and excitedly explained what had happened. You know, for some reason, they just didn't seem all that excited about it. Maybe though, it had something to do with the fact that it was almost 2 a.m. their time when we called them.