SMALL WORLD HALEY PARK

Rainy day in Jukjeondong, Korea, just outside the main gate to Dankook University. Small world, don’t you know! Lunch time and all the eateries were full of students. We stopped in at “Dos Mas”, where they serve Korean food, rolled up in flour tortillas and pretend it’s Mexican. The food is good, don’t get me wrong but don’t expect chorizo, jalapeños or cilantro. All the tables were taken so we placed our order and waited by the door. Two young ladies were at a table there, waiting for their order. They offered a seat as we waited and so the story begins. Sungho, my niece’s husband tells them about the new, English only coffee shop they are about to open and one of them answers him in English. She tells us she lived in the States and studied English there. Before we could ask, she said, “Michigan.” 

      Sungho points at me and my U of M baseball cap. Her eyes lit up when she recognized the Maze & Blue. She asked where I live and I said, “Grand Rapids.” Turns out, Haley Park lived in Hudsonville with her family for a while; studied English in Allendale. I said, “I used to teach school in Allendale.” Oh my, this is too much. We talked about Michigan and you would have thought we were best friends, for years. Our orders came and another table cleared, next to the girls. We continued our small talk and admired their Dankook jackets. The university has cool, traditional letter jackets. They come in different color combinations for different divisions in the university. Saw a black and white one the other day with “School Of Architecture” embroidered on the back. Today’s were blue and red for the school of statistics and another combination for health & food science. 

What are the chances I would accidentally meet in Korea, a young lady who used to live just down the road from me in West Michigan? It didn’t matter what the chances; there we were and there you are. In 2010 I was a Volunteer at Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska and ran into Jenna Giddens, a Park Ranger from another small, nearby Michigan town. Our high school sports teams used to play against each other. In 1995, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a lady from “Mothers Against Drunk Drivers” came to our school. I thought she looked familiar and after the program she came to me and introduced herself. Her husband and I had been good friends in Kansas, 35 years before. She recognized me, sitting in the audience; what a surprise. What are the chances? I think the world is just as big as you let it be.