We all know somebody that knows everybody. Well, the person I know like that is my younger sister Tammy. She’s known everybody since she was at least 6 years old.

After our dad was elected to pastor the church in De Queen and before we were able to move, we drove from Cave City to De Queen every weekend. It was a long drive for a kid and I’m sure it was even longer for our parents. Combine the trip with our having to stay with other people the entire weekend and you have a perfect recipe for fragile tempers.

Dad guest ministered at many churches and we always went with him. Consequently we knew a lot of people from all over the northern part of the state and Tammy knew most of them by name even as a child. She was about 8 or 9 when we moved. One Saturday we were driving to De Queen and were probably 2 or more hours from our house when Tammy hollered out, “Hey, I know them” and started waving at some people we were passing. My dad told her to stop waving and be quiet because she couldn’t possibly know those people. Tammy, being Tammy, started to argue but Dad said, “Tammy Sue, shut up and be quiet.” Like I mentioned earlier, all the traveling and moving stress was wearing on all of us.

Several miles passed by and I noticed Tammy was sitting on her side of the car crying. Big fat tears were running down her face. I tapped mom on the shoulder and pointed as I didn’t want any attention drawn to myself. Mom turned around and asked Tammy what was wrong. With her voice all full of tears, Tammy said, “I get a headache when I can’t talk.” All of us just started laughing. If you know Tammy then you probably know that she doesn’t ever have a headache from not talking!

That’s not the end of the story. After traveling for some time, we had to stop for food, fuel, and bathroom. That truck full of people we had passed earlier was at the same store filling up their tank. When we pulled in beside them, the first thing they said was, “Hi, Tammy!” The look on my dad’s face was priceless. We probably all looked a little shell shocked over the fact that Tammy really did know somebody several hours from our house.

Today, if Tammy says she knows somebody, we might look at her like she’s crazy but we don’t deny the fact that it’s probably true.