you know you're from a small town when...

Every so often I get tired of eating lunch at my desk. The lack of natural sunlight in the building just starts to wear on you. On rare occasions I will take my lunch down to a table at the student center. Yesterday was such a day. It was beautiful outside, high 70s, clear skies. The kind of the day that you want to sit outside and enjoy. So I grabbed my lunch and a book and walked over to the student center. All of the tables were occupied, so I picked the one girl who I thought was "normal" looking and asked if I could join her. She responded with:

acquaintance: "Are you from T-ville?"
me: "yes..."
acquaintance: "Did you go to [insert name] high school?"
me: "yes..."
acquaintance: "Did you graduate in 1999?"
me: "yes..."
acquaintance: "Is your sister's name Melanie?"
me: "yes..."
acquaintance: "You may not remember me, but I graduated with your (younger) sister and you graduated with my sister, [insert name]."

As recognition dawned on me as to who she was, I sat down, and we chatted over the lunch hour. It was fun to talk about people we both knew and also the fact that we "got out" and hoped to never go back for longer than a weekend visit.