Ever see a name from your past pop up in a completely different venue, somewhere so unrelated to what you thought you knew of that person that you scratch your head and wonder,
could it be? -- and find out that it is?

During the days my Other Half and I were more active in the amateur radio community, our radio club's roster included twin brothers and their wives. As time progressed, we grew in different directions, and the radio club eventually folded. Some months ago, we learned through a mutual friend that one of the brothers had been in a serious accident, but were never able to follow up on it.

Last summer, we joined the New York Renaissance Festival's Friends of Faire (FOF). FOF is a group of playtrons -- paying customers who dress up in costume ("garb"), play along with the actors, assist the faire staff in helping "behind the scenes", and/or hang out at a specific spot on "public display". Beyond dressing up and having fun, our particular group is there to help the faire run smoothly. We may help sell felt flags at the joust, provide water to the actors, man the information booth, or provide "general color" as needed.

By now you can probably see where this is going. Occasionally we would see a name pop up on the FOF mailing list that was the same as one of the two couples we knew from radio and the local computer club. We wondered if perhaps it might possibly be our old friends, but since we are not up at faire every day of the season, we never crossed paths to confirm. After more than a decade, I would not for the life of me have recognized either of them -- especially not in garb. Then again, I rarely recognize people in garb when I usually see them in normal everyday ("mundane") clothes, and I rarely recognize people in 'danes when I normally see them in garb. Given how much I'd been up, down, and up the weight scale since we'd last seen each other, I would not have expected this couple to have recognized me, either. My Other Half made the initial identification -- he recognized the husband Saturday morning last weekend, asking him by name for assistance with some equipment -- but the two men had not had much chance to speak during the day. The other three of us spent the day not realizing we were speaking with our old friends until the end of the day, when The Other Half finally pointed out the husband to me. It wasn't until I referred to that friend by his callsign suffix, out of context, that we finally confirmed our old connections.

(Obligatory d-related aside:  One of the first times I met this couple's "mirror halves" was in the course of providing communications support for the local MS-150 bike tour. I haven't had chance to mention the Tour de Cure/ Red Rider/ 50th Birthday Challenge to them -- but I believe that another couple from our old group still does communications for one of the other Tours de Cure in our state. It would be really cool if we could get some of "the old gang" back together to do communications -- or maybe even ride! -- while I'm out there on two 700mm by 23 mm wheels...)

If that were not "small universe" enough, this past Saturday we were up at the New York Renaissance Faire for our last time this season (this coming weekend is Rosh Hashanah). I had my sponsor sign-up sheet for our STARFLEET group's upcoming JDRF Walk lying on one of the general tables, with my name and team. It turns out that the Vice President of our FOF group and his wife were once members of a neighboring STARFLEET chapter. While they were not as active with the regional or international organization, we knew enough people in common to have a bit of a "catch up" discussion.

The old saw says, "The more things change, the more they remain the same". In this case, it's more a matter of the circumstances changing, but the individuals remaining the same. Or to quote a famous Disney attraction, "It is a small world, after all."

Or, maybe there really are only 46 actors in Canada.