Six Degrees of Separation

Although we never saw the movie I was reminded last week - again - of the many instances of “six degrees of separation” we have experienced. The first one was when we lived on Capitol Hill. Senator Enzi lived down the street and knew our son and his family. At our grandson’s birthday party I learned that one of my high school friends was best friends with his daughter. Another was at the Library of Congress where I worked for ten years. Our IT person was from China; his wife’s mother was best friends with the then Chinese president’s sister. My husband is from Iran; his family members married in to another family; they were all vacationing in Italy along with a family member from California; the subject of the Library of Congress came up; the family from California had a best friend whose wife worked at the library; when I learned of this coincidence I contacted the wife at the Library and we met for coffee. My sister in law taught at American University; one of my high school friend’s son was in her class; he mentioned her last name to his mother and it clicked. My sister in law took her mother to a dermatologist; the dermatologist was my high school friend. My sister in law has a brother who is a plastic surgeon; he was colleagues with my high school friend who is a dermatologist. None of these people grew up in the same city. On the surface it may not sound like much, but all I know is that if you talk long enough there may be a common connection. All you need to do is ask the right question. 

Bill Freehan - Six Degrees of Separation

If you talk to someone long enough you might find that you are connected somehow. That has happened a few times to me over the years. When Bill Freehan’s name came up the other day, it sounded very familiar. A lot of baseball player’s names in the 60’s-70’s sound familiar because my brother was drafted by the Orioles from high school as a left handed pitcher. We watched more baseball games than most. We also have many photos of my brother as a youngster getting autographs from many players at spring training camp in Florida. I saw a notice on Instagram from our old high school that referred to Bill Freehan - sending condolences to his and the O’Brien family. Then I figured it out when I read the obituary. 1- Bill Freehan went to Bishop Barry high school. 2 - He married Pat O’Brien. 3 - Pat is Danny and Michael O’Brien’s sister - they both attended Bishop Barry high school. 4. Michael was my brother’s classmate; Danny played baseball with my brother on the high school team. Danny pitched fir the Cardinals. 5. Michael is my brother. So, there are five degrees of separation between me and Bill Freehan. When I look at Bill Freehan’s photo it reminds me of a different time and place. I felt a bit nostalgic and teary eyed. Time keeps passing by so very quickly and every day we are somehow reminded. 

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Our connection to Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins started a long time ago. Our son and daughter in law both attended and graduated from Johns Hopkins. He went to the a University of Wisconsin Madison medical school, then completed his residency at the old Walter Reed, then went on to finish a cardiac surgery fellowship at Harvard/Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Before his first deployment, our grandson was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital. We moved to DC two years later. We visited the old Walter Reed to see our son’s office and the hospital, and also brought out of town guests there to visit the army museum filled with interesting medical artifacts and oddities. Eventually the old Walter Reed merged with the Naval Hospital to become the state of the art military medical center. Before our family moved to Virginia from DC a few years ago our son drove from Capitol Hill to Bethesda every day for work as a cardiac surgeon until he retired as a colonel after twenty one years in the army and three deployments. All the news lately reminds us of the places that are all too familiar to us. You could consider it a six degrees of separation scenario. We haven’t driven by the place since 2019 and when we do I always send a photo to them as a reminder. How time flies. 

Six Degrees of Separation

If you talk to someone long enough you may find a connection. When we first moved to Capitol Hill fourteen years ago, we found out a Florida high school classmate of mine was friends with one of Senator Enzi’s kids. Senator Enzi lived down the street from us. When I worked at the Library of Congress someone there was friends with one of my Iranian niece’s uncles who lived in California. We found out about it when they were all visiting together in Italy and asked if they knew anyone who worked at the Library. Another colleague at the Library was connected to the Chinese President via his wife’s mother - who was best friends with the president’s sister. This time, we were riding on the elevator of our condo and we saw a familiar face - he happened to be the owner of the Mclean Family Restaurant that we have been going to every Saturday for the last many years. He happened to be moving in to our building this month. Upon further investigation, he happens to be the uncle of Pete Sampras. So it’s a small world if you look hard enough. You never know who you might run in to - and it may come full circle. (Photos taken from the internet)

John Adams Six Degrees (or more) of Separation

For a lot of reasons I like John Adams. He was from Massachusetts - my birthplace, an historically prominent figure of history, a very “straight talker” oftentimes to his detriment, and most importantly had a lovely relationship with Abigail. I think I have read just about every book written about them and have visited their home in Quincy. I saw the musical play 1776 at least twice, watched the movie many times more, and still have a few songs from the soundtrack on my playlist. William Daniels played a great John Adams. A couple of weeks ago we took a cheesy tourist trip to visit Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and the only president I wanted a picture with was Mr. Adams. Since we started with Amazon Prime last month we are watching mostly British programming. But I found the HBO television series about John Adams from 2007 or so that we weren’t able to see, so we started to watch it this week. So far I don’t think it’s that hot, but a lot of the dialogue is similar to the play 1776 because it’s based on John Adams letters - literally. So it was interesting to find out a bit of trivia the other day when my sister was telling us a story about working at the Catholic University library many years ago. Someone came in looking for information about the Adams family. My sister, who majored in history, felt something striking about this individual - the general appearance and size, etc. - and asked if he was related to John Adams. And he was a descendant. So, you could say I am now connected to John Adams by three degrees - me, my sister, the descendant, and the real thing. Yes, I know there are several people in between the descendant and the real thing, but it’s a great connection! I’ve always thought if you talk to someone long enough you will find something of interest. You just need to look for it. 

US Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Six Degrees of Separation

If you search long enough or have a conversation long enough with someone you can oftentimes find a connection. I have stumbled across three very interesting incidents: a high school friend and the US Senator who lives on our street; a relative in Iran who is friends with someone who worked at the Library of Congress where I retired from two years ago; and a colleague from China at the Library connected to the Chinese President. I have watched the Olympic Games now and again but never knew anyone who played - until now. A colleague of mine from the Midwest who is on Facebook was promoting his niece. So, I know Ted; Ted has a cousin; Ted’s cousin has a daughter; Dani plays on the Olympic women’s ice hockey team. She scored a goal against Finland and the team won. Now they just beat the Russian athletes. Maybe one of these days I won’t need to take this coincidence outside the family. I have a cousin; she’s got a daughter; she’s winning a lot of medals skiing and going to special schools and training for her event. That would be an even more interesting connection, but not exactly the same as six degrees of separation. But it is more personal!