Six degrees of separation from oneself

It is said that there are only six steps linking any two people in the world, so each of us must be just six steps away from ourselves, but can we always discover what those steps are? I once worked closely with a woman named Ruth in a company in Tunbridge Wells. We didn't live near each other, me living in West Kent and her in the south of Sussex. One day she told me a funny story. Her sister was living part of the time with a man on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells although she also had a home in London, I think. He had constructed a swimming pool at the bottom of his garden where there was originally a pond. It wasn't until he found his swimming pool full of frogs that he realised that the pond had been their annual spawning ground. When I told this story to my wife at home she said that it sounded familiar. She had a friend, a woman with whom she used to work, whose brother had -- well, you can guess the rest. It was his swimming pool in the story. Evidently Ruth made the connection that I had while away from work at the same time because when we next met in the office she greeted me with a big smile and said, "Hello! I believe we know each other," even though we had known each other in another context for ages. We might never have made that connection had it not been for her telling me that uncommon story. There were just six people in that social circle but none of us knew everyone else in it or had any reason to despite each link being a close one, so for a very long time it was never identified. The six of us never did all meet although my wife and I did accept an invitation to visit Ruth at home. Somehow knowing what we had discovered brought us a little closer together. I have met people who have told me that they have discovered much closer unexpected connections in their lives too late, after they cease to matter, and they have felt that an opportunity has been lost as a result.