Sometimes it’s a chance meeting that is worth more than long term friendship.
On a recent trip to a popular theme park in Orlando, my youngest daughter started up a conversation with the girl in front of us in line for a ride. Both girls were wearing a birthday pin and when they asked each other what their birthday was, it discovered that they were born on the exact same date. The little girl for which we call Carly, was born about 500 miles away from us in Knoxville, Tennessee. Neither girl had met someone with their birthday, let alone someone born on the same date. To the nearly six year old girls, this was truly amazing.
The girls talked about life. Carly was an only child who had dogs while my daughter was the youngest of three girls in a home with only a cat. Both girls were the youngest in their kindergarten class and they would be entering first grade in the fall. The girls began talking about their favorite cartoons, the characters they wanted to meet during their trips and shared stories during their 15 minute conversation. As they approached the boat to get on the ride, each asked their dads for a quarter to throw into the water. With coins in hand, a wish was made between the two girls before the quarters plopped into the water. Following the completion of the ride, the girls expressed their goodbyes.
My daughter would not share what the wish was, but it became apparent the following evening what hope the quarters were attached to. As we were leaving a restaurant at one of the resorts at the same theme park, both girls ran into each other for one last time. They both had the same character buffet dinner scheduled, but only for different times. The girls shared their excitement of seeing one another again as well as the opportunity to meet their favorite characters. We did not see Carly since, but to my youngest daughter, she had made a worthy connection.
