As we were winding the Freep down, I was on the NW corner and a soon-to-be-released soldier came up to thank us for being there. The men-folk got handshakes and the ladies got hugs and kisses. The soldier said he was from Philly but had a "Stillers" shirt on, so I asked him about that. He told me a story about the Steelers and the Eagles during WWII - one year they didn't have enough players for either team to be full strength so they combined what they had and were called the Steagles.
Anyway, we chatted and I told him my dad was from Philly. He asked where. I couldn't remember, dad's been gone for more than 15 years and his stories are fading... I did tell him that I remembered that dad talked of going to a Catholic grade school and the nuns being German. He said, "Our Lady Help of Christians? Port Richmond?" and I immediately remembered those names from dad's stories. Then I told him that Dad's family home (as well as his aunt and uncles' homes) was on Cedar Street, and he said, "Cuz!" and hugged me again!
Turns out that he's from my dad's old neighborhood. Small world.
I kind of hope that he didn't get his paperwork finished this week and we can chat some more on Friday.
;*) So that's what all the comotion was about?! Thanks for sharing! He was a sweety!
As bmwcyle says when this happens to me (and it does ALL the time), if you swing a dead cat, you'll hit someone you're connected to in some way. So, you must have been swinging a dead cat! Watch out!
Very cool story!!!! Just goes to show that something special DOES happen every week.