We all have “small world stories” – right? I’m sure you have a few just like I have many that I could share, , , but the one that stands out like no other is the one you are about to read about.

It is about 1 in  100 million chances of happening!

BACKGROUND – First, you need to meet a couple of people.

1. Paul Cooper – Paul is a good friend of mine from Adelaide, Australia, some 9,800 miles from where I live in Columbia, Tennessee (US). I met Paul in 2013 when he attended my 55th IT Manager Institute class in Columbia. My wife, Dorine, and my son, Eddie, joined us for his class dinner. Paul plays the banjo in a band and planned to combine his trip with a country music festival in Nashville. Dorine found a live bluegrass band playing at a local restaurant so that’s where we took Paul for his class dinner. We all had a great time.
2. Bobby Sisco – My Uncle Bobby lived in Hohenwald, TN, about 35 miles from Columbia, , , and where Dorine and I grew up. After moving back to middle Tennessee in 2003, I started visiting Uncle Bob every Saturday. We would go have lunch and then drive around 4 counties reminiscing our days of growing up  in Hohenwald, telling stories, and just spending time together. Our most frequent restaurant was The Junkyard Dog in downtown Hohenwald. Bobby was a shy man but very interesting as he read hundreds of books and traveled all over the US during his work career. He didn’t talk much around strangers but with Dorine, Eddie and me he was comfortable and very sociable, , , and quite funny actually. These days spent with my Uncle Bobby were very special, and it helped me learn how smart and interesting he really was.

OK, I met Paul Cooper in March of 2013, then again at my home in 2016 when I met with Paul and one of his colleagues to discuss some work issues. I got to know Paul pretty well over time.

FAST FORWARD A COUPLE OF YEARS, , ,

It’s a Tuesday and I get a call from Uncle Bobby. He has a new TV and he is trying to record something but can’t seem to make it work. I tried to troubleshoot the issue over the phone but we weren’t getting anywhere. Bobby was in his late 80’s at the time and I’m not the best tech support guy, , , so I said, “Uncle Bob, I’ll drive over to Hohenwald and look at it, and we can go to lunch while I’m there.” He said it could wait, but it was a good excuse for me to visit him so I drove to Hohenwald.

Turned out that he didn’t actually have the cable service that allowed him to record programs on his TV so I couldn’t fix the issue. We decided to go to lunch and opted for The Junkyard Dog restaurant since it was going to be a short visit. One problem, , , the restaurant is closed, , , unusual but closed nonetheless.

We talked about our options and decided to try Hank’s Cafe. This was a place that had been open for about a year but neither of us had been there before, , , so we drive around the block to go into Hank’s Cafe.

This was a very small cafe, , , tables and a small bar that would seat 25 to 30 people max. It was early so the cafe was empty except for a couple of guys sitting at the bar. Bobby and I take a table and look at the menu and we start talking about a few things.

Then, it happened, , ,

One of the gentlemen sitting at the bar walked over and said in a distinct Australian accent, “Mike Sisco,  what are you doing here?”

And I said, “Paul Cooper, what are you doing here? I grew up in Hohenwald and I’m here visiting my Uncle Bobby, , , Bobby, meet Paul Cooper from Australia!”

I had not noticed that sitting at the bar when we came in was Paul Cooper and his brother from Adelaide, Australia. They were visiting Nashville to attend a music festival and decided to take a bicycle trip down the Natchez Trace for a couple of days. The Natchez Trace is a federal highway that restricts commercial vehicles and is a very scenic ride, , , there are always cyclists riding along the Trace. They were some 40 miles south of Nashville and decided to go into Hohenwald (another 7 miles) to get something to eat and look around.

The odds of us bumping into one another has got to be 100 million to one, I think, , , for these reasons:

• Paul and his brother being in the US
• Them deciding to take a bicycle ride for a couple of days
• Them deciding to ride the Natchez Trace
• Them deciding to go into Hohenwald for a bite to eat on that day and time
• Uncle Bobby having a problem with his TV on that day
• Me going to Hohenwald on a Tuesday to troubleshoot Bobby’s TV issue
• The JunkYard Dog unexpectedly being closed that day
• Bobby and me deciding to try Hank’s Cafe for the first time

I’ve had many small world events in my life, but this is without question the  BIGGEST SMALL WORLD STORY in my lifetime. Hope you like it.

Send me a COMMENT and tell me your best “small world story”.

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