My husband, son and I were on a trip to visit my husband's aunt in Malibu, CA. It was a first trip for me and my son though my husband had been there as a young teen.

We were walking along the Santa Monica Pier area and decided to buy our son, who was six at the time, a T-shirt. We got in the car and cruised along the highway looking at the hundreds of kiosks and stores that advertised all kinds of tees and souvenirs, and finally decided on a small shop located in the parking lot of a shopping center.

We are from Texas so all have distinct southern drawls, and the sole proprietor of the shop asked what part of the South we were from. My husband said "Texas," and she responded, "What part of Texas? I know people there."

My husband told her at first Lubbock because it is a larger city just south of where we live. The lady said, "You know that is where the people I know are from."

We were all kind of laughing at the coincidence of that when my husband said, "Well, actually we are from Plainview, north of there." The woman looked very shocked and said, "Really? Do you know the Meriweathers or the Chathams?"

"Yes, we are Chathams," we replied, stunned. Then she asked, "Are you Martha Chatham's family?" Of course we said yes. She then said, "You must be Tommy, and this must be Tad."

It turns out she was an acquaintance of Tommy's aunt who lived in Malibu at the time; she also knew Tommy's mother quite well and had just recently sent her a hand-painted T-shirt.

Of all of the hundreds of merchants along the Santa Monica area, we settled on one little shop because there were no crowds and the shirts seemed to be a little better quality. It is really surprising when you are 1500 miles from home and a total stranger in a store tells you what your and your son's name is.