2006
• June 19, 2006: coming out of her annual mammogram appointment, Theresa walks to the parking garage and heads to the stairs when she passes a man heading to the elevator. They smile and continue on their paths. When she gets to the floor with her car on it, the same man steps out of the elevator and they smile again. He says, "I should've taken the stairs with you. My doctor says I need the exercise." They chat about nothing and head towards their cars. As she walks past the van next to her car, she notices a "VMI Keydets" sticker on it. Then, suddenly, the lights flash on the van. She turns to the man she'd been talking to (who had obviously just remotely unlocked his car) and said, "Did you go to VMI?" He says, "Yes." She explains, "I went to Hollins." He asks, "Do you get back often?" She says, "I've made some of the multiples of 5 reunions." He says, "I just went back for my 25th a few years ago. Ooops, I guess I just gave away my age." She says, "Really? Me, too. I was class of 1978." Guess who else was class of 1978. They were probably at a mixer or two together. She should've asked him if he went to the Texans in Virginia party.
2005
• October 2005: At the "Hearts and Hands Bazaar" at church, Theresa walked in and first went to a friend's booth, then turned around to go to another friend's booth but stopped at a booth whose beautiful ceramics caught her eye. There was a serving dish that had 7 snowmen on it, each with a name written in. She immediately thought of her Godfamily and asked the woman staffing the booth (who was doing some painting on a clay piece) if she could do 6 or 8 snowmen instead. The woman went on to describe what she does (they were actually footprints of the children on the plate that were then painted to resemble snowmen) and how she does it. Theresa picked up a brochure to see if she could order one later and not at the show (she really needed to get to her other 2 friends' booths). She turned the brochure over and there's the address: 428 Marilu. "Do you live at 428 Marilu?" she half asked and half exclaimed. Indeed, this woman lives across the street and down 2 houses!
• August 2005: (Maybe this is really first degree....but I hardly knew her, I only "recognized her" so I think she's "someone new".) Flying from Dallas to Long Island, I was on my second leg from Houston to Long Island that stopped in Nashville. I was on the aisle. When we boarded more people in Nashville, a woman wanted to sit in the window seat on my row and when I stood up to let her in I looked at her and said, "Excuse me, but do I know you from somewhere?" She looked back and said I don't think so. Then she said, "Are you in math education?" :-) So we figured out we were both at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics convention in Las Vegas in 200x. We were both presenters. We never figured out which presentation we might have seen each other or met at because we spent the rest of the flight talk talk talking about math and education.
• August 2005: Theresa gave a workshop in Detroit with two other people. One of them was Jane. She travels the country and does a lot of consulting in technology integration. She started rattling off people in Texas that she knew and I actually knew one of them! She and Lane Hunnicut were both Apple Distinguished Educators in 199x. They attended a weeklong workshop in Cupertino, CA. The only place to get cellphone coverage was at the top of a big hill near the resort where they were staying and working. One day they crossed paths on the hilltop and Lane wasn't able to get a connection so Jane loaned him her phone. Boy was Lane surprised when Theresa asked him if he knew Jane. It was the look people must get from her when they tell her their 5 degree stories.
• May 2005: Theresa is giving a workshop in Baytown Texas. The new director of technology used to be in the Navy Band (stationed out of Norfolk, VA) and knew Brian Borne, Pearce High School member of the Mighty Mustang Marching Band (how Theresa knows him), who was in the Commandant's own Navy Band based in DC (how Sharon knew him).
• April 2005: Does virtual count? A doctoral student, Kitty McBean, in Richmond, VA wrote to Gerald and Rhonda to ask permission to use one of their instruments in her dissertation. In the email, she described her dissertation topic and how their instrument would fit in her research. When Gerald replied to give her permission he mentioned that he had a colleague (Theresa) with similar research interests of gender equity. He cc:'s Theresa who then emails back to Kitty a brief description of her research and mentions that her sister lives in Midlothian, just north of Richmond. Kitty writes back that she has regular appointments in Midlothian and mentions that she'll doing her research in Henrico County. Theresa writes back that she's familiar with the project on a professional level but also on a personal level because of her Hollins friends who live in the area. Kitty writes back that she got her MALS from Hollins. hmmmmm what are the odds that two Hollins grads would meet via email across the country due to a common research interest?
2004
• February 2004: Theresa delivers Hollins tulips with another Hollins alum that she's never met before. Her name is Katherine and it turns out that she works at Valley House Gallery with Bruce B....husband of Kathey B. with whom Theresa taught at Lamplighter for 18+ years.
2003
• Summer 2003: TLO, Rebecca (Dr. B.S.) and Dana meet "Abilene" at Gerald's brother's funeral in Abilene. The four of us sit together and I'm in charge of the "play-by-play" as I'm in the only Catholic in the crowd. The parish has a very nice potluck in the atrium after teh mass. We're all going around with Gerald who's introducing us to all of his family when a man stops me and asks, "Are you from Dallas?" Theresa says yes. "Do you go to All Saints?" he asks next. Theresa give a trepid yes. "I thought I recognized your voice!" he says. "I was sitting behind you during the service and I knew that had to be you." Guess cantoring pays off. ;-)
• January 2003: Theresa is at annual Girl Scout Wide Games Campout; talks to mom of one of older girls, finds out that she's a doctor at Children's Hospital; ask her if she knows Ceci G....turns out Dr. Naomi (the mom) and Ceci have been partnered for 11 years; they work together every day (Ceci has been good friend in choir for 17 years).
2002
• June 2002: Theresa is at Hollins choir reunion (what would be her 24th reunion if they celebrated anything other than multiples of 5's). She's touring the new library and notices a young woman looking at an old yearbook. She looks closer and notices the yearbook is from 1954, her mother's senior year. She asks the young woman if she knows someone in the class of 1954. "Yes," she says, "My mother." "I wonder if they knew each other?" we each ask. The young woman is there for her 20th reunion...she entered Hollins the year after Theresa graduated. Theresa called her mother that night and sure enough, her mother knew exactly who she was talking about. <postnote: The mom of the other girl did come to her next Reunion. It was the 50th for the two moms. Theresa's mom told her that the mom wasn't in good health but the daughter had convinced her to come and the daughter accompanied the daughter. When the daughter met Theresa's mom, she retold her the entire story and asked mom to say hello to Theresa.>
Before 1990
• 1983 at PHS 5 year reunion. Theresa sees Scott Youzva (she had a big crush on him in Mrs. Bedell's geometry class sophomore year) and talks with him for a while, then talks with his girl friend while Scott goes off to get drinks. Since they were at SWTSU, Theresa asks if she knows Mark Zoeller who is a year ahead of us and she says, "Know him! I dated him last semester!"
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