Yesterday evening, we had some family over to see the house — Jack’s aunt and uncle are in town, so they came with his mom and her husband to get a tour of the place and hang out with us.  As always, it was so much fun to show someone all the wacky ins and out of the house!  But this visit absolutely blew my mind…

Early on in the visit, Jack was telling aunt A and uncle R about the history of the house, and how the guy who built it had been a big businessman in Philly in the 1940s-60s, with a lock on the bar and restaurant supply industry throughout the area.  Uncle R’s jaw dropped and he said, “wait a minute…  I totally know who that is!  My dad did a lot of business with him when I was a kid!”  Jack and I were cracking up — how small a world is it when your dream home actually has a connection to another family member’s childhood?  Uncle R was like, “I HAVE to call my brother and tell him this, he’s not going to believe it!”

So he called his older brother A with the news:

R:  Hey, do you remember Mr. Kaplan, who dad did a ton of business with when we were younger?

A:  Sure.

R:  I’m sitting here in his house!  My nephew and his wife bought it a few months ago, and it’s exactly the same as when he built it!

A:  Wait, I’ve BEEN IN that house!!!  I remember it, it’s really nice!

Well, there ya go!  Uncle R’s brother got to spend time in our house in its heyday, before Jack and I were even born.  If that isn’t the craziest thing…!!!!  We put him on speaker, and he told us some stories that he remembers about the family and the company, like that they had their own wood shop to do custom cabinetry and fixtures.  Which explains all the amazing built-ins, wood paneling, and custom furniture in the house…  he had all the connections through work to make it happen!

So, our minds were blown last night.  We couldn’t stop grinning at the coincidence.  🙂