it's a small world after all

Tonight I was supposed to catch up with a friend of mine, but since he had to cancel I'll spend my evening telling the story of how we met.

I've already confessed to using jdate as a way to meet men. Not that there's much to be ashamed of, really. But I met this guy on jdate back in 2006, not long after my split from Grumpy Pants.

I read this guy's profile once - it was quirky. So were his emails, full of puns and snark and witticisms. We emailed back and forth a few times, right around my annual pilgrimage to my hometown for Thanksgiving. I mentioned to Witty that I was headed homeward, and something about my dad growing up in nearby Little-Big-Town. Witty mentioned that he had family from Little-Big-Town,too.

In great disregard of jdate etiquette, I asked him his last name. And in the name of curiousity, he obliged. Since I was at my dad's place, I just yelled out from the den to the kitchen "Hey Dad! Ever heard of the McWitterson's or the McWitty's from Little-Big-Town?"

Dad actually stopped what he was doing, came into the den and looked at me for a while before he answered. "As in B__ McWitterson McWitty? The wife of D__ McWitty? I've been friends with D__ since I was 10. I went to B__'s funeral 2 days after your mom's funeral. Yeah, I know the McWitterson's and the McWitty's."

Oh dear. The world is feeling very small. So then Dad asks what brings up the families... and I oblige with my jdate connection to Witty.

"Oh, Witty McWitty? That's Z__ McWitty's grandson, and he must be named for his great uncle Witty McWitty. He used to work for a sports franchise up there in his hometown. His uncle P__ McWitty was a bigwig for the pro football team there."

Or something like that. I was a little too stunned to remember the family story exactly right. But the part where my dad has been friends with Witty's uncle for over 60 years - still very true.

So how exactly should I tell Witty about this? Very, very carefully. Men do not like to feel stalked, and can be easily overwhelmed with professions like "Oh my god! I know everything about you!"  To be fair, if I guy said that to me - I'd run. Fast.

I started (in online chat) with "um" I think. And then dove in with the whole "yup, my dad just rattled off your whole family tree" bit. Lucky for me, he did not freak out.  He was equally fascinated by the connection. We agreed off the bat that since the world was such a small place, we'd end up being friends no matter what. Kizmet, ya know.

We went out a few times, but the hitch for me was that Witty was just recently separate and I wasn't ready for a man who wasn't divorced yet.

And after 3 and some, years we've both kept our promise.  We've counseled each other on work, life in general, politics, even dating - somehow I think we figure that the Little-Big-Town connection makes us responsible for each other. Or family. Or something.