We call it the Bellingham zero degrees of separation. It is similar to the theory originally presented by Frigyes Karinthy which proposed that everyone is on average roughly six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth. The primary difference between Karinthy’s theory and ours in Bellingham is the degree of separation. In Bellingham it often feels like there are zero degrees of separation. We really dig that those relationships are such a regular part of our life at Chuckanut Builders and thought we’d share a few of our “zero degrees of separation stories.” Todays story is about babies, electricians and the Community Energy Challenge.
Ian and I were pregnant with Abel in the summer of 2010. A number of friends recommended we take a prenatal class with Mary Burgess at Life Song Perinatal. All of those friends told us one of the biggest reasons to take these classes was to meet other couples who were also pregnant. That advice proved to be priceless. In the class we met a few really great couples, learned about pregnancy, birth and babies from Mary and had a lot of fun.
Fast-forward a few months. Chuckanut Builders has been selected as a Community Energy Challenge (CEC) contractor, we are completing CEC jobs and Abel is an infant. One of our first jobs was for Jonathan and Amelia Seagraves. Jonathan and Amelia were pregnant with their first child and were taking a class at Life Song Perinatal with Mary Burgess. Ian and the Seagraves shared stories from the classes and laughed at the coincidence.
And then, our next job was for Mary Burgess. It was great. Mary got regular Abel updates and we felt like we were able to give something back to Mary after she’d done so much for us. The story doesn’t stop here! We continued working as CEC contractors and a few months after we’d completed working with the Seagraves we saw a photo of Amelia and Jonathan’s new baby! Where? On the refridgerator door of another CEC client. These clients were friends of the Seagraves and it was merely by chance that they chose Chuckanut Builders as their CEC contractor!
The Bellingham zero degrees of separation makes our community of nearly 81,000 feel much smaller than it is. Really, it’s not about the number of people, it’s about the connections we make and the community we share.
Oh, did I mention that we met Chris Scherer, owner of North Wave Electric (and our primary electrician,) in our prenatal class? Oh, Bellingham, we love you!
by Intellitonic