Zeusx3!!!

I tried to have an uncomplicated weekend. It ended up being appropriately brief but still managed to call upon most of my logistical skills. I drove in Saturday evening with Laura, who had come up Friday night to escape the bright lights of the city. She was going to Hyde Park, so I parked there and got my bike out of the car to ride into the city. Just as I was assembling the front tire, I saw Toni walking her dog. I asked her "How's Zeus doing?" Zeus is her husband; I used to sub at the school where he teaches (taught?) and used to teach him piano when I lived in the co-op. They live right behind the co-op. She said that he was fine and that he was "right around the corner." Literally. I look over, and there's Zeus. We chat for a moment about what has happened in the last 7 years since I left Hyde Park (Has it really been that long?) and then I make haste to go downtown.

Just another random encounter.

The tour went pretty well--probably because I had invited a new lady to come on the tour and was trying to impress.

Then, I saw him again. I was riding down the LFP and had to weave my way around a bunch of runners--blech. There was some charity run/walk thing going on, slowing my progress slightly; still, though, I managed to make it from downtown to Hyde Park in less than 30 minutes. And, who was participating in the run/walk? Zeus. I waved, as he was coming towards me on my way south, but he didn't see. He's a big runner, so it makes sense.

Just a second random encounter.

During the Obama tour, which goes through Hyde Park right by the co-op (where I used to live) I was thinking that these types of random encounters come in 3s. Sure enough. We stop by the Obama's house, a block away from Zeus's, and he pulls up in a car--on the way back from the run/walk--and reminds me to tell the folks that the future Cook County Board Prez lives down the street. That would be Toni.

Three random encounters. Granted, they all were perfectly explainable on their own. That being said, I've done the Obama tour dozens, if not scores of times and have never seen him, and what really makes it bizarre is that the coincidences happened, like they do, in 3s.

In the picture above, Zeus is the one that looks like Zeus. It's more than a name, it's a way of life.