The Ardmore Connection

Life is sometimes so strange you have to wonder. When we lived in Colorado daughter LR (she wishes to remain anonymous) went to college at BYU. While there she met a young woman who became a very close friend for the remainder of her college years and even until today. We will call her AB. When we told LR we were moving to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and that it was in the Green Bay Wisconsin Stake of the Church she said that she thought that was AB's stake. It turns out that, not only was it her home stake, but her father was in the stake presidency....

Pretty strange - but it gets lots stranger. I have to back up a few years. LR's father was married for a time to a woman who had a daughter about LR's age. They became friends and she even went to girl's camp with us. But, when the marriage ended they lost track.

Back to the near past. A few years ago LR's sister JT went to college at BYU Idaho. She became engaged to a young man whose last name I will call Bing. Mr. Bing and JT didn't work out - end of story. Sort of. JT came back home and her friend BW went out to Idaho at the same time. After a while BW became engaged to a man named Mr. Bing. Different Bing but same last name nevertheless. Interesting thing - he was originally from Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Ardmore, Oklahoma is a smallish town very near Lake Murray where I took the kids to camp many times during their growing up years. We often ran into Ardmore to get more food or ice. So we were familiar with Ardmore although practically no one outside of Oklahoma would even have heard of it. Of course, Oklahoma is my (Carolyn's) home state. I am so Oklahoma that my great grandparents lived in Indian Territory.

BW (JT's friend) who became Mrs. Bing continued living in Idaho after their marriage. Meanwhile, LR's good friend AB married and moved to .......guess where?.......Ardmore, Oklahoma. How strange is that. One day, out of the blue, LR thought about her former step-sister. Her dad had mentioned that he thought she was married and living in........Ardmore, Oklahoma. So LR e-mailed AB and told her to look for RS (the former step-sister). AB said she met her in church and, in fact, sat next to her on Sunday! Wow - talk about coincidences! And even more interesting than that, RS hadn't been to church in several years. Their kids were about the same age and they became friends.

Back to Mr. and Mrs. Bing living in Idaho. They recently moved to.........Ardmore, Oklahoma. And every day, our son AD drives past Ardmore for his job. For all I know, he probably delivers shoes or something there. I have to wonder what will happen next in Ardmore, Oklahoma!