It could only happen here...

Mary and I went out on her birthday to our favorite restaurant here in Wiesbaden, Germany. We met our friends there: a local expat American couple; the wife (patty) works for Opel – the GM sub in Germany. During dinner, a large group of men showed up and our friends immediately recognized them as some of the worldwide managers who were meeting that week at GM. As they walked by our table, Patty waved to one of her colleagues she knew from the USA and began to introduce him to her husband and Mary and me.

As I stood up to shake hands, Patty introduced him: Jerry Piecuch. We both stood and shook hands and stared in a trance. Just then Mary said: “Jerry? Pete, that’s Jerry, Jerry Piecuch!” Jerry immediately recognized us and my mind was still reeling in the years until it finally clicked…

Jerry lived in a house with me and other friends from Notre Dame high school in Champaign, IL. I have not heard-of nor seen Jerry since I left Champaign in 1978! 32 years later, he walks into a small restaurant halfway around the world, and happens to know the people we are sitting with who we’ve only known for a few months. There were at least 20 GM guys at this restaurant. If he hadn’t said hello to our friends, we might not have even realized he was sitting in the same room with us.

Jerry is now living and working in Shanghai for GM. Within minutes of us seeing each other, Mary and I were on the phone with Joan, his wife and yes, original girlfriend from Marillac High School near Chicago who would often come to visit the house in Champaign, just like Mary used to do!

There must be a name for this... karma, serendipity, absolutely unreal coincidence.
Small world indeed.