I learned something this week.

Well, maybe I didn’t actually learn it. Maybe it was more that I came to a realization of something I had already suspected.

Whatever. I digress.

Any way … I learned or realized that everyone in Fairfield Glade is only one or two friends or acquaintances from knowing everyone else.

You know, it’s kind of like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. You’ve heard of that, right?

It’s a parlor game that is based on the  “six degrees of separation” concept, which supposes that any two people on Earth are, on average, about six acquaintance links apart.

Well, in Fairfield Glade, I would say that number dwindles to two or three.

That’s the way it is with myself and Ellen Flynn. I don’t know Ellen Flynn, but I know somebody (actually a few) who DO know her.

As a resident, Ellen Flynn was a common sight on the indoor and outdoor tennis courts in Fairfield Glade.

See that? If you are playing along at home, that is just ONE degree of separation!

Super cool, eh?

Well, sometimes it’s not even a human that is the “degree” of separation. Sometimes it’s a couch.

To explain, I recently ran across an classified ad that came over our email. Someone was selling a “like new” couch. It just so happened that we were in the market for such an item.

(One of the perks of being the Publisher/Editor of The Vista is I get first crack at any item for sale — if I so choose.

Don’t think that’s fair? Get over it).

Again I digress… So, I emailed the person back about the item, my wife went and looked it over, and we bought it.

It was only later that I discovered that the owner/seller of the couch was good friends of other friends and — you guessed it — her name was Ellen Flynn.

Small world. Especially in Fairfield Glade.

Now this may not be earth-shattering information I am laying on ya. But I said all of that to tell you something else I learned.

That Ellen Flynn is leaving Fairfield Glade; moving back to her native New York. And that Ellen Flynn is going to be missed by all the of her friends …

… to a great degree.