Back in the early days of living with Sydney’s Dad……this is how we spent our weekends. Our friends would come over we would play drinking fun games. This pic was pre-Syd, pre-marriage taken most likely summer of 1992.

The one in the white shirt with jean shorts waving – that’s Sydney’s Dad Sonny – hi Sonny! Love the 90’s fro.

Most of the people at the table are from Sonny’s work. He worked at Oshman’s in the Six Flags mall. It’s a sporting goods store mainly known as Sports Authority now. A few friends are from my work, a travel agency in Irving. And some are childhood friends (sorry Kristi).

But seriously, are we having a blast or what? Did you find me? I’m the blonde curly smiley person in the back. Yeah, spiral perm maybe?

I am around 21yrs old (maybe younger, shhh). This was our apartment in North Arlington near where Jason lives now. At the time, the Fort Worth Fire hockey team lived there as well. Since minor league hockey was brand new (I think) that was big stuff back then and most likely why we lived there because we were cool like that. (right Sonny?)

This could even be my 21st birthday bash. Who knows? I’m glad to find these pictures because I don’t remember much. 🙂

I’ve lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex for twenty years. I moved around A LOT. But MOST of the twenty was in the Arlington area, where I live now. Arlington back in that day was a town of about half a million and now it’s at least three quarters of a million or quite possibly a million peeps strong.

That’s a lot of peeps. It’s a big place. Getting to point in 3-2-1..Jason lived not far from the party pad. His mom’s house is two streets over where he grew up and would have been living at that time.

I would randomly say as we drove by -there is where I used to live. He surprised me one day by saying, “Me too”. We tried to figure out if we lived there at the same time, if we crossed paths but we didn’t. It was many years later when he lived there.

We did remember the now old movie theater was the exciting new one in our day. It was a big deal when it was built because it was the first all stadium seating. The Target shopping plaza wasn’t half closed but just opened. Time is not kind to these buildings. That area did not thrive.

One day I mentioned Sonny worked at Oshmans. He said, “So did my Mom.” THOSE dates matched. But even more than that, HE worked for Oshmans too, as a teenager. By checking the year and the store, we discovered, not only did Sonny work with his mom, HE worked with Sonny too. Woah!

I am not kidding. Jason and I are three and half years apart. When I was 20 he was a clerk at Oshmans around 16 1/2 years old. This conversation is taking place a few months after we started dating and it’s blowing my mind.

His brother worked at the same store. I thought his brother sounded more familiar than he did, it seemed likely we had met back in the day. We had lunched with him a few weeks back but I couldn’t say for sure that I knew him.

Jason worked in the shoe department. I tried to remember seeing him, picturing him at someone’s knees with a pair of Nikes. Here is a picture of Jason around the age of working at Oshmans with my ex-husband.

I have a snapshot memory of him being behind the gun counter. I don’t know if it’s real or imagined. Still…I really met Jason long, long ago? Really? Well, apparently, and his brother too. After they went off to be in the Marines. Sonny continued working with Jason’s mom for many, many years.

What makes this story wilder than the party? Well as we are having this conversation, I pull out some old photos. We discover the three above. I say, “See, it’s the apartments by your house where we had the parties during your Oshman days. Do you recognize anyone? Most are from the Six Flags mall store.”

You could say that he did. The guy in the PINK shirt in all three pictures, brownish hair in a mullet cut (popular in the 90’s, don’t judge). Jason’s brother Todd in all his party day glory (love ya brother-these pics are priceless).

Can we all hold hands and sing?

It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small, small world.

My future family and I crossed paths eons ago. How WILD is that?