It's a Small, Small World...

Okay, this post may be boring to some of you but I know my Dad will enjoy reading it. Why? Well, I've always been amazed by how he can go just about anywhere and find, or bump into, someone who knows someone he knows...or something crazy like that. On my mission, that happened to me A LOT. It drove my companions NUTS when I'd just casually be talking to someone in church and we'd find a common connection. They'd say, "How is it that you're from a state with more cows than people and half the people in your home town are your relatives and you STILL manage to find these people with connections to you?!" Well, all I can say is, "It's a small, small world." Especially in the church, and it gets even smaller when you narrow it down to Wyoming, and even SMALLER when you add Cokeville to that chain. So, here goes....

It all started last week at church. A sister approached me and said her husband said I looked familiar to him and was wondering where I was from. Well, he's from Star Valley, WY and it just happened to be that he is the son of a guy my dad played football with at Ricks' College. Also, his younger brother, Andy Johnson, was my age...just a year older in school. He was the one that all the girls went weak in the knees over. You know, the sigh...."ooooohh, Andy Johnson!? He's so CUTE!" And...my Aunt Marlene (Dad's little sister) and her husband, Sam, were Andy's sponsors when he played college sports at Carroll College in Helena, MT. We went to celebrate Thanksgiving at her house my Senior year of high school and Andy and a few of his friends were invited to join us. After dinner was over my Dad and Grandma Teichert requested that Taffy, Tami, and I "entertain" at the piano...I was mortified. In front of Andy Johnson?! DAD?!!! Well, I lived through it...just made me tougher, I guess. haha

Last night, I went to a Relief Society activity at the Primary President's house. I went with two other ladies whose husbands work with mine and we had a BLAST! The ladies in this ward are phenomenal! Anyway, while we were there I started visiting with the same sister I talked with at church on Sunday and found out she also knows Alex Dayton...they met at SVU. Weird...

Another sister, Ally, and I got to visiting and she mentioned her husband was from Hannah, WY and that they lived there for ten LONG months and she'd never go back. I sympathized with her and then asked what her husband's name was. I recognized the last name, VanWagoner, and asked if he had a younger brother named Daylon...and he did. Daylon took me to a Valentine's Day dance at the Institute when I was at UW in Laramie.
Embarssing moment...
Before Daylon picked me up for the dance, I was on the phone with my friend David Loveland, who was going to the MTC the following week. I just wanted to say "see ya later" and wish him luck. Well, Daylon showed up not five minutes after I got off the phone with David. I answered the door, and there was Daylon, 6 red roses in hand and a big smile on his face. I said, "Oh, thank-you, DAVID!" I was MORTIFIED. I couldn't believe I called him David...
Well, Ally took a picture of me and sent it to Daylon, asking him if he knew me. He said, "Yeah, it's Violet T from Cokeville! I had a crush on her in high school." Phew!! He could have said, "Yeah, she called me David when I handed her six roses and then I endured a dinner/dance date with her..." He was a lot of fun and I'm glad he remembered only good things about me.

I visited with the RS President and during our conversation, my semester in Nauvoo came up. She mentioned that her sister did that and LOVED it. I asked when and she said it was fall of 2003, which is when I was there. Her sister's name was JanaLyn Bird. When my Mom and Tyson dropped me off at the airport, there was a HUGE line full of kids going to Nauvoo shuffling through security. My Mom and Tyson had a Dr appointment for Tyson's knee that they had to get to, so we said our see-ya-laters and they took off. I stood there, surrounded by a bunch of kids, but feeling totally alone. I was fighting back the tears when JanaLyn put her arm around me and said, "Violet, we are going to have SO MUCH FUN." I hugged her and said "thanks" and never really looked back. It was the best semester of my life and we did have SO MUCH FUN. I will never forget JanaLyn Bird, and I'm so glad I got to tell her sister what an awesome person she is!

Anyway, I've bored you all and you may not have even gotten far enough to read this. I just thought it was fun to find these connections and it made me so thankful for the Church and for the RS program that offers instant friends and "family."