What are the chances?
A funny little story about a wrong number. #MayIWrite — Day 26 & 27
The other day I got a text message from a contact who wasn’t in my phone. It was obviously a message intended for someone other than me — a follow-up reference to a conversation I hadn’t been a part of. I replied to say I didn’t believe the text was meant for me and the sender thought I was messing with him. We talked back and forth for a minute and he realised I wasn’t pranking him. It would have been time to sign off but by this point, it was kind of a thing. He was apologising for not believing me but I told him I actually really enjoy that kind of randomness.
In fact, about four years ago my partner (at the time) and I were watching a movie when I got a phone call from a number out of the deep south in the US (as identified by my smartphone). I decided to answer because it didn’t look like a telemarketer number and I was curious. I could barely decipher the words that were spoken on the other end of phone other than the name ‘Dustin’. I told him he had a wrong number and his (fantastic) response was “woooooohooooo! girl, where you from?!”. So we started chatting. We seemed equally delighted with each other’s strong regional accents. My partner sat staring at me with a ‘what on earth?’ look on her face for the entire 5 minute conversation.
So when my mystery texting friend asked where I was, I didn’t mind telling him he’d found me on the West Coast. I recognised his area code, which covers a fairly broad geographical area, but was still shocked when he revealed that he was calling from my home town. It took me rattling off a bunch of local trivia before he believed that it was my old stomping ground. We chatted some more and learned we are just a few years apart. He told me about his job, his kids.. It was so interesting and random. The next afternoon he texted me again to tell me he hoped I was having a good day and yesterday I got a “happy Friday” as well.
I truly love opportunities to get to know someone, even just for a random fleeting text conversation. There are so many people on this planet, and as many unique life stories as there are minds. I didn’t keep the conversation and I didn’t store his number. Who knows if he’s kept our chat on his end and if he has, whether he’ll pop up again. I wonder if I’ll ever unknowingly pass him on the street when I’m home visiting, or whether we know people in common. I don’t mind the mystery.
So there’s a funny little story for you from my week.
