Sunday, April 22, 2012

It's a Small World


A couple of weeks ago I listened to a radio interview of a local woman, Annette K. Collins, who has recently written a book titled Thin Space.  The author explained that this book tells the love story between two soul mates, and about what happens when their life choices challenge fate.

Intrigued, I researched the book on amazon.com.  Customer reviews gave Thin Space a rating of five stars, each reviewer noting that once started, they couldn’t put this book down.  After reading just a few preview pages of Thin Space, I was hooked!

From the radio interview, I’d learned of an April 21st book signing at Barnes & Noble.  I circled my calendar so I wouldn’t miss this exciting event. 

The big day arrived yesterday and off I went, dragging a friend with me.  Arriving at the store, we discovered that there were two authors signing and promoting their books.
I approached Ms. Collins, explaining how I heard her radio interview and had become interested in her book.  She was thrilled to learn of this, and gladly posed for a photo as she signed my copy.
We chatted a bit and learned that Ms. Collins is from Rotterdam, not too far from us.  When I mentioned the rural area where my friend and I live, the author sitting next to Ms. Collins excitedly piped up “I know that area!”  She added that she grew up in Perth, which is another rural area very close to us. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Upstate New York, Perth is quite small, consisting of not much more than an intersection.

Now it was my turn to get excited!  My sister and brother-in-law lived in Perth for many years, and their children graduated from that school district.  Was it possible this author knew my niece and nephew?  It seemed unlikely, yet I couldn’t help thinking it was plausible. 

I told the author, Lisa Potocar, about my niece and nephew growing up in Perth.  When I mentioned their names, she exclaimed that she knows my niece, Sarah!  The author said that Sarah graduated a year behind her and her twin sister, but that their brother was in Sarah’s class.  She went on to tell me that she played softball with my niece, and when she graduated, the team gave her an autographed ball as a keepsake.  Ms. Potocar excitedly said, “I have a ball at home with Sarah’s name on it!” 

It certainly is a small world! 

Well, I definitely couldn’t go home without purchasing a book from my niece’s old friend, so here is Lisa Potocar, signing a copy of her book, Sweet Glory.
I’ll never know if it was just plain luck or destiny that brought me to Barnes & Noble on this particular afternoon, but I’m glad I was there!

Confidential to Sarah:  Lisa of the Lita & Lisa twins says hello!  J

4 comments:

Marty said...

It really is a small world! Sounds like you had an exciting day yesterday!

Linda said...

It's my belief that NOTHING happens by accident, Trish. So it was God's providence that took you to the book signing that day, if only to bring some joy and excitement into all of your lives for a few minutes.

Isn't it so fun when things like that happen!! I'll have to look into the books you mentioned. You know I'm always on the lookout for a good book.

Yesterday I was at work and we had some down-time. One of the girls had a John Grisham book, so I started reading it--totally wonderful as almost all of his books are. The Confession. Now, I have to get a copy of it somewhere in order to finish it.

Sarah said...

That's quite a story! I definitely remember Lisa and Lita. :-) PCS was such a small school back then (40-50 people in each grade!), and it was quite "exotic" to me that the class ahead of me had TWO sets of female twins.

Lisa Dumar said...

What a small world, indeed and "Everything happens for a reason" :)) GREAT story and I'm so glad that you had this opportunity to encounter this :))