Several years ago there was a trivia game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It was based on the idea that if a person is one step away from each person they know and therefore two steps away from each of the people known by the people he or she knows that everyone is an average of six steps away from every person on Earth. With regard to Kevin Bacon, the idea of the game was to link any actor to Kevin Bacon based on their respective roles within the fewest links possible.
So now I will demonstrate the six degrees of separation between Billy and Thierry.
1st degree: Billy Quinn.
2nd degree: Bill and Tricia Quinn.
3rd degree: Cassie Kordsmeier.
4th degree: Natalie Kordsmeier.
5th degree: Jordi Boix.
6th degree: Thierry Henry.
So let me tell you how this story unfolded. While we were in Roma, Cassie asked Bill for a letter of recommendation and in the process learned that we were going to visit Barcelona. Cassie, incidentally, is the redhead in the above pictures and Natalie is the blond. Now Cassie's first cousin, Natalie met us our first evening in Barcelona. In the course of our visit over Tapas and wine, we learned that Natalie's boyfriend works for FCBarcelona and knows Thierry Henry.
On our last morning in Barcelona, Bill and I traveled to Camp Nou where the training facilities and stadium for FC Barcelona are located. Remember now that neither Bill nor I speak Spanish, let alone Catalan. Somehow we managed to locate Camp Nou where we phoned Jordi who met us within a few minutes. He arranged for us to have a tour of the stadium and museum, and he also took us to the store so that we could purchase a jersey for Thierry Henry to sign. The players were either in training or a meeting, I don't recall, but Jordi thought there might be a possibility that Henry could autograph a jersey for Billy while we were on site. And sure enough, when Bill and I emerged from the 3-D movie, there was Jordi standing with Billy's Christmas present.
Some Christmases are simply more memorable than others. This Christmas for Billy was very special. He loved the jersey when he opened the present; the autograph was carefully folded beneath the sleeves and out of sight. As a parent, I loved watching the unfolding, both literal and figurative, as Billy first saw and then realized the significance of having a autographed jersey made out TO HIM by his favorite soccer star of all times.
We owe a special thanks to our elves this year, Cassie, Natalie, Jordi, and Thierry Henry for making this the best Christmas ever for Billy.
Finally, I didn't have a good picture of Natalie so I found this picture of her and Cassie on Natalie's facebook. The picture of Henry I found at a website. (OK, the English major in me wants to to cite references.
P.S. Probably Billy is only 5 degrees from Henry. However, listing Billy looks good on "paper."
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