6 Degrees of Separation

One of my favorite songs is called "The People You Know" by Robynn Ragland. It's a great song, basically about the reality of the "small world" phenomenon. You know, you dated some guy in high school and now work with his sister's brother-in-law, though you're like 60 miles from where you grew up? My favorite line:

Isn't it odd? Take you and me - We're two little ants in one giant community But whether it's fate, or proximity You're one of my people, the people I'm into - I miss you - yeah, I feel akin to you.

Occasionally, my mind chooses to focus on this phenomenon of proximity while I'm driving because, well, that's the only place I ever get enough quiet time to actually think. So my mind tends to go into overdrive. Anyway, today I was driving through my old stomping grounds, aka where I went to high school, and I started thinking. How many people have I driven past today that I know? What are the odds that I would ever pull up to them at a stop light and be able to recognize them? Would they recognize me? Would I want them to? Would I wave, or beep, or just silently acknowledge who they were and drive away? Thoughts like this filter through at a rapid pace.

I tend to do this at concerts, too. You know, scan the crowd of eight bazillion people, thinking you'll recognize someone. Actually, my hubby is great at this. He can find one person he knows at pretty much any concert. It's incredible. But if I go to a concert, and know I could probably find half a dozen people I know or more, I never find a single one.

Am I the only one who obsesses about this every now and then? I do it in the airport, too, by the way. Sometimes, in the backyard, I even stop to ponder if that giant 747 flying over my yard contains someone I know. Is this a disease? Or is it somewhat normal? If you think about all the connections you've made in your life up until now, don't you think it could be totally easy to simply drive past people you know every single day, even in areas you don't normally trapse through?