People Intersect

I'm reading a book.

It's called Double Cross by James Patterson.

Pic courtesy of Amazon.com

I love Patterson. He's one of my favourites, and I've read all the books based on the Alex Cross character.

I even have the next one in the series sitting on my shelf - Cross Country - ready for when I finish this one ;-)

This afternoon, one sentence in Double Cross got my attention.

'People intersect'.

I thought about that for a second.

I read it again.

'People intersect'.

How true.

And my mind wandered to all the 6 degrees of separation people in my life. Both real, and online.

People who have come & gone, and then come back again (thanks Facebook!).

Lives intersecting.

That got me thinking of a question I'd read recently.

One posted by a fellow blogger, Beggar's Shot Glass, whose path intersected with mine almost a year ago on another blog site.

I didn't answer her question at the time, but I did think about it.

'What kind of impression are you hoping to make and leave with people in your life?'

The obvious has gone through my head. A good mom who loved and had fun with her kids. Good daughter and friend. Good person.

Ya know, the usual stuff.

Tonight, I was going to see a friend I met through a friend, who I met through my ex almost 20yrs ago.

Intersecting at it's best! lol

I was also running errands, and ran into a person whose path I haven't crossed in over 15 years, and who unknowingly answered my question of 'what kind of impression?' I left people with.

I was going into the convenience store, and this guy was coming out. We were walking straight into each others paths, so I started to move to one side.

He slowed down, turned around, stopped and asked "Didn't you teach at the computer school, XXX?'

I was suddenly having a flashback! This has happened before!

I stopped, said I wasn't a teacher, but worked in the lab right after graduation from that school, which we both agreed had been the 93-94 time frame.

He said 'YES! I remember you! You were a great help to me!'.

I was completely shocked.

Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't the words that came out of this stranger's mouth.

I didn't recognize him. Didn't 'know' him, but obviously our paths had intersected before.

He then said 'You probably don't remember, but I was one of old guys in the class at the time, and you really helped me alot that year.

And I remember those violet eyes!

But more importantly, I remember how helpful you were to me!' :-)

LOL

Wow.

He was right. I didn't remember him. Like I've said before, my memory sucks.

I'm just walking along, mindin' my own business, and out of the blue I walk into the path of a man who says I was 'a great help' to him 15yrs ago. That's how he remembers me.

So, I thanked him again, told him I was glad I was able to help him that year, that it was cool that he was still in 'the biz' after all these years, and went on my way.

As I pulled open the door to the convenience store, two thoughts crossed my mind.

People intersect and;

don't forget the toilet paper.

K.