Amarillo’s population is just a hair less than 200,000 individuals.

It’s not the biggest city in Texas, let alone America. But it’s not an insignificant burg. It’s no one-horse town. It’s got plenty of stop lights, strip malls (even a few strip joints), plenty of eateries and drinkeries. It has an opera, a symphony, an indoor football team, a hockey team and a minor-league baseball team. Its downtown has a 31-story skyscraper. Amarillo has produced its share of celebrities and assorted characters.

OK, now that we’ve established all of that, I have this query.

Why is it that one cannot seem to be more than two — maybe three — degrees separated from every other person in this city?

The city’s been on a steady growth path for decades, but it seems to be getting smaller.

Almost without fail each week, I run into someone who knows someone I know. Or I’ll encounter someone who’s kin to someone I know. I don’t think it’s necessarily that I have an inordinate array of acquaintances throughout the city, although my former job as a print journalist did put me in touch with a lot of individuals over the course of two decades.

It’s just that I meet people I’ve never seen before. We talk for a minute or two and then I find out they’re acquainted with someone I know.

It happened again today in a strange manner.

I was at work today at the auto dealership where I hold down a part-time job. I met a new colleague. I introduced myself to her, she to me. We later ended up in the break room. We chatted a few more minutes. I asked her about her previous jobs. She told me she’d worked in sales at this company and that one.

“How long have you worked here?” she asked. I told her nearly two years. I then mentioned to her that I had a career that ended a couple of years ago. “I was a journalist,” I said. “Oh, really?” she responded. “Maybe you know my boyfriend.”

I asked, “What’s his name?” She told me.

I damn near fell over. “Yes, I know your boyfriend. Very well.” I laughed out loud. So did she. I told her that I worked closely with her boyfriend for a number of years and after that little exchange I felt as though I’d known this delightful young woman far longer than less than an hour.

Life is full of mysteries. They’re too numerous to mention.

I am inclined after today to add one more to the infinite list of unknowable things

Such as: How is it that a city this size can produce such familiarity, even among people who only moments earlier were total strangers?