Upon moving to Richmond 5 years ago, we quickly learned that “Oh, that’s Richmond for ya” is the appropriate reaction when one of those small world coincidences takes place. It’s meant to reference that despite being a fairly legit city, Richmond has a small town vibe where everyone seems to know everyone else through no more than a degree or two of Kevin Bacon friends and acquaintances. So when, for example, you find out that the girl at your favorite lighting outlet rents an apartment in the backyard of a house that you’ve crashed (and where your sister got married) you say “That’s Richmond for ya.” True story, by the way.
Well, we’ve got a new story that confirms that this phrase has some real truth to it. Here it goes.
Last week we got new neighbors. Like, right next door (the other side of the patio fence). Not knowing who they were, what kind of neighbor’s they’d be or what kind of house/yard they’d keep made us a bit nervous. They closed right before Memorial Day but were having some things done to the house before moving in last week, so we didn’t get to meet them right off the bat. Suspenseful.
So recently my cousin was in town and we had her over to BBQ on the patio. At some point my dad wandered off with her 5 month old son (not in a creepy way, but in a “let’s go look around” way). Upon his return, my dad said “Oh yeah, I met your neighbors.”
Sherry: “No way, who are they? What’s their story?” (Yes, our curiosity had turned us into gossips)
My Dad: “Well, they’re Brad and Angelina…” (Names have been changed to not put the new neighbors on blast – plus it’s more entertaining this way)
Me: “Wait, they sound familiar.” (Note: had their names really been Brad and Angie, I’m sure I would’ve placed them more easily)
My Dad: “…and they have a young daughter named Viv.” (cough… NotHerRealName… cough)
[LONG PAUSE, then picture light bulbs going off above both of our heads]
Me & Sherry: “No way! We know them!!!! They almost bought our house!”
Remember last year when we were selling our old house? And how we did For Sale By Owner? Well that meant we met all of the prospective buyers face-to-face and Brad and Angelina were not only the first people to tour our house but they also seemed to be the folks (out of a total of 16 showings) who appreciated the house the most (which of course made our hearts swell with pride). We could totally picture them lovingly moving into our first baby. Weird sentence, but you know what I mean.
Obviously they didn’t buy our house (they just weren’t quite ready to pull the trigger and sell the house they had yet). But as much as the 2010 John & Sherry wanted this nice couple to buy our house, the 2011 John & Sherry are much happier to have them as next door neighbors. Especially since their daughter is only 11 months older than Clara (hello playdates) and, like Clara, already seems to have a thing for Burger. Not that we’re getting ahead of ourselves or anything, but they’re basically destined to be BFFs. (Sidenote: their daughter already has a nickname for Clara, which is “dolly” which is just about enough to make a grown man melt).
Oh, and the other night I spotted Brad wearing a Mountain Dew t-shirt. And you know how well I get along with guys in soda shirts (that’s Jeremy Bower, btw)…
When we re-met them (as neighbors, not prospective buyers) we all laughed at what a small city world it is. They added that our old house even turned up as a comp on their appraisal when they finally got around to selling their house six months later, so they were just thinking about it recently. And, to complete the hat trick of weird coincidences, we learned their movers were the same folks that moved out the previous owners of our house (they showed up and started laughing as soon as their realized they had “done” the house next door less than six months prior). I guess that’s Richmond for ya…
Okay, now your turn. What’s your best or latest small world story? Do they happen as often in your town as they do in ours? Also, does the video at the beginning of this post make you want to dance? Me too.
Psst- One of our favorite ever it’s-a-small-world stories is when the original owners of our first house contacted us. Check out that story here.
Whitney says
It is a small world! We just got married on 6/18 in Maine (we live in NC now.) My college roommate who lives in Maine was coming to the wedding. She was down in FL visiting friends Memorial Day weekend and somehow managed to meet my husband’s cousin. I guess my roommate mentioned she was from Maine- the cousin said she was going to Maine for a wedding on 6/18- roommate said she was too- cousin mentioned our names and viola!
We also had 2 guests meet each other in a changing room in our town buying a dress the morning of the wedding- not so rare in a small town but funny (considering there were a bunch of other weddings that day!)
Love small world coincidences!
Amanda R. says
The small town Richmond phenomenon extends to OBX. I saw you guys in a very small coffee shop in Duck. Me and my girlfriend, who happens to be an internet friend who became a real life friend, were sitting on the porch when you guys walked up. Clara caught our eyes and when we moved out of our way for her stroller I recognized John’s voice. So did my friend. Second coffee shop I have seen you guys in. The first was in Starbucks in Carytown. Are you stalking me? LOL.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny! What a small world! I promise we’re not intentionally stalking you! Well, maybe it’s a subconscious accidental stalking. Haha.
xo,
s
Liz says
Hi there,
Im studying Interior Architecture in Germany and I love reading design blogs and am always scouring the internet for design inspiration. One day out of coincidence I found your blog searching for something like ” DYI porch light”.. and your blog always seems to pop up even when im searching weird stuff like… “warm and dark wood mixed” or when I’m looking through Pininterest….. but here’s the strange thing, I grew up in Richmond VA and moved to Germany 11 years ago… I recognized your house right away…my parents live only a couple of streets away…so thought I had to share that because I think its cool and to show how small the world is…
another story my roommate (here in Germany) was in Australia a couple of years ago for work and travel. Last year a new group of freshman started to study with us… she recognized one guy right away, he had partied with her on New Years Eve in Australia a couple of years back. How strange is that…
YoungHouseLove says
That’s crazy, Liz! Totally a small world. You’ll have to come say “Hi” next time you’re in town visiting your parents.
-John
Lynn @ SafeBeauty says
Mine is that my little brother used to work at Woodbury Commons in Monroe, NY @ Kenneth Cole way, way back in the day. Then he got married and one day we were looking through his wives family albums at her parents house and there was a pic of her when she was a young teenage girl (he’s about 5 years older than her) visiting NY for the 1st time from Massachusetts and standing in front of the Kenneth Cole store at The Commons. It turned out it was the same year he worked there, so who knows if he rang up her items that day without ever knowing that one day, years later, they would meet again in a tiny little town in FL, fall in love, and get married. Oh c’est la vie!!!!
My best, Lynn
Kristen says
We’ve had so many strange coincidences but when we bought our current house we discovered that our neighbor who came to OK from NY is friends with a guy my husband worked with in CA.
When we moved to CT several years ago, we just randomly picked a town that we thought was nice and found a house a there. When my aunt found out where we decided to live, she thought it sounded familiar. Turns out the small, random town we chose & fell in love with was the same town my ancestors had lived in 300 years before us and they were buried in the cemetery across the road from our house! Although I can proudly report we never met up with them. ;-)