Nicole feels

Our church had a conference this week that went from Sunday to Wednesday. Rob had quite a bit of involvement in the pulling off of the whole shebang, so we were there with bells on each evening, and then some.

Tuesday night, a young guy, a local church planter spoke about planting churches (duh). I noticed that he pronounced the word "on" as most Marylanders will:

"Oin" - kind of like "oil", but with an n at the end.

I logged it in the 'ole database and didn't think too much about it.

We took him and his wife and some folks from their church out to eat afterward (Rob having also spoke on church planting and having that wonderful/terrible experience ourselves).

"So, are you all from this area?", Young Church Planter Dude (who I will now call YCPD) asked. (This is a common question here, this being a military/lots-of-transplanted-people town.)

"I grew up in California," Rob said.

"I grew up in Maryland."

"Really." (Raised eyebrows) "What part?"

"Near Baltimore."

"Really. (Raised eyebrows) "What town?"

"G___ B_____ area."

"No! Way!" YCPD exclaimed.

"Actually, F_____," Rob piped in.

"No! Way! No one's from F______!"

"I went to A_____ High, before it became NC."

"NO. WAY! I know I sound like a broken record, but NO WAY!!" By this time, YCPD was pretty excited.

To make a long story short, the guy lived in the same small community I grew up in and attended the same high school (basically) that I did, and even knows one of my cousins.

What are the odds?

Throughout the evening, every so often, he would shake his head and say, "No way. No. Way!"

(And hey, Zen, his wife is from out your way; the same town, I think.)

He and his wife are coming over to watch the SuperB0wl with us. I'll have a fellow R@ven's fan in the house. Woo-hoo.

Should be a fun evening, even if it does go "oin and oin and oin".