If you're in Columbia...

...and you want mind-blowingly awesome food, go to Zorba's. I had completely forgotten how great the place is; not surprising, given I hadn't been there since I was about fourteen. But, yeah, *go*. And save room for dessert.

Didge and I went up to Columbia, SC to have lunch with my aunt; being down with the monster cold for so long had us both reeling from cabin fever, so you could say the trip was necessary in order for us to survive. But our day trip escape wound up being something of a revelation: I realized my life is now linked to another one of *those* people. You know, the ones who know someone every single place they go. Mom's like that. We once made it through an entire trip to California when I was eleven with the miracle of seeing no one Mom knew, only to encounter a colleague on the same plane leaving San Francisco. Seated quite close to us, in fact.

But anyway, back to Didge. In the middle of a book store, we were approached by someone he knew. I can't remember the exact connection (suffering from bridal brain), but it was someone he hadn't seen in ages. On our way to meet my aunt for lunch, we talked about how random the encounter was, and he said it never failed - he would always see someone he knew anywhere he went, practically.

My aunt suggested we go to Zorba's. As I mentioned previously, it's a place I loved going "back in the day", and I was really excited about taking Didge to one of my COLA faves. I think the three of us were in the middle of a light political discussion (very bound to happen) when I noticed one of the staff approaching the table cautiously. He looked at Didge, and asked, "Hey, man, are you from Augusta?"

Didge used to do the BMX thing with his older brother. He went back to work, and then came back a few minutes later - turns out, he's very good friends with someone I've known for freakin' ever (well, since the mid-eighties) and someone I'm acquainted with from my stint in Savannah. Need to mention - my aunt is such a regular at Zorba's that *she and the guy* are very well acquainted, so it was beyond a small world moment - it was one in which small worlds collide. Add to this the fact that she's met one of the mutual friends several times.....bit of a mind blow, right?

All in all, it made for one of the most excellent lunches ever. I love it when such cosmic, out-there coolness happens.