You know by now that I love to watch Field Hockey. Mostly because of my friends.

Last weekend, I watched the NCAA Semi-finals against Penn State and North Carolina. Penn State lost. I was proud of the team this year.

On Sunday, the Championship was won by North Carolina, beating Northwestern.

On Twitter, I also saw that Middlebury in Vermont won the D-3 Division NCAA Champion.

These schools’ teams are connected.

It started in 1975. I knew Char, who played field hockey at Penn State, and a few of her friends.

That summer, I went out with a woman who played field hockey for North Carolina. Her name was Bashi. After many years I discovered she was one of the stars in North Carolina and set many records. I didn’t see her again after that summer.

After my wife’s mother passed away, my father-in-law remarried Elle. Somehow, one Thanksgiving, we started talking about Field Hockey and Char. Her daughter, Lauren, said that she played field hockey at North Carolina. I asked her if she knew Bashi, and she said, “We played together. I was the wing, and she played in the center”.

I know; how do we get from Penn State to North Carolina? How do we talk about Middlebury?

My niece, and my god-daughter, Elizabeth, went to Middlebury. Her husband went to Middlebury. Becky, my son, and I went to their wedding in Middlebury. Elizebeth’s son goes to school at Middlebury now.

So that is how it is all connected.

Small world.