La Porte is the Center of the Universe

For years I have been told, sometimes jokingly and sometimes seriously that my hometown is the Center of the Universe. Last night, I believed it.

I had plans with my Sister and her BF to go eat sushi at Sakura. I Love Sushi. Then I noted her calendar and asked her if she'd like a romantic evening with her honey (since she had plans for the rest of the weekend) and she said yes. So we amicably cancelled our sushi plans. Then she reschedules, because his brother was coming along. Then brother cancels, so she recancells. I tell her at this point that I am getting dinner elsewhere because this is getting weird.

Ended up at dinner with D9 and Nicholas at El Rodeo, a locally owned restaurant chain. It was yum but that is another story.

Came back home 'round 7:00. Not in the mood to just sit at home, I decide (after a bit) to get out of the house. I decide I want a beer but I don't want it from just any old place, I want to go back (went there for lunch yesterday) to Broad Ripple BrewPub. I change out of work clothes, get myself together and away I go.

I get there about 8:30. It is ass-packed (i.e. not room for one more rear end in the whole place). I finagle my way to the bar to order a beer. As luck would have it, there is one open stool next to this guy. I ask him what he is having (because it looks very tasty) and we talk beer for a minute and he asks me to sit down. I do.

He introduces himself, his name is John*. We start shooting the shit about this and that, I ask him what brings him here tonight and he says that he took the day off work, wanted to just relax and decided to come over for dinner and a beer. Turns out he works at a former employer of mine and we chat a little bit about what we do. I note the coincidence at our job paths and move on. Then he mentions something about going to see his parents 'up north.'

'Up North' in Indy parlance, means generally three counties. La Porte, Elkhart or Noble. The rest of the 'Up North' counties all have a sizeable city (Gary, Valpo, South Bend, Fort Wayne) that people will generally say where they are from. Not so for La Porte, Elkhart and Noble.

Anyhoo, I ask where 'up north' is. Turns out it is La Porte. He grew up approximately one mile from my house, graduated from New Prairie High School in 83 and his dad used to employ my next door neighbor.

Oh yeah, you can imagine my utter shock. It was like old home week in bizzarro world. There were approximately 1000 other instances of 'oh yeah, you know ___?' 'me too!' It was unbelievable. Seriously, what are the odds of meeting someone in Indy who went to my same high school (graduating classes of 150), lived approximately a mile away from the house I grew up in and knows people I know?

So we end up talking until closing time. Yes, dear readers, Athena closed down a bar. It has to be about ten plus years since that happened last.

I gave him my number, asked him to call me.


* = as ever, names changed to protect the not so innocent.

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As a side note, I told my Mom this story this morning. Apparently my stepdad helped dig out John's parents' basement when they moved to their home.

Oh yeah, La Porte is the Center of the Universe.