Seeing someone in an unexpected place

Why is it that we get so excited when we see someone we know in an unexpected place?  Today as my hubby and I were driving to yet another home improvement store, we saw the folks in the car in front of us honk and wave to some other folks who happened to be standing at a corner waiting for the traffic light to change.  Once the waves were noticed, there was much hooplah, gleeful shouts, grand waving gestures, and everyone immediately broke into smiles.  

What inspires such a grand reaction?

I've found myself in similar situations before, running into neighbors or people from church, or former teachers in a variety of settings completely unrelated to the place from where I know the person.  Sometimes it takes a moment to place the familiar face in the unfamiliar location.  Other times, it's quite easy.  But it seems to me, as I recall, that in almost all of the circumstances, my heart leapt.  Leapt!  I felt a thrill, a rush of excitement to spy someone I recognized in an unfamiliar environment.

Do we live such dull and dreary lives, filled with such rote and boring daily routines that seeing one's neighbor at the grocery store should invoke a smile to break out upon one's face, and one's heart to pound in one's chest?  Such a thrill, one would think, should be limited to finding long-lost relatives, or seeing a favorite auntie for the first time in several months.  

I'm not sure upon what the psychological implications of such a grand reaction are based.  Maybe it's a gift for those of us who need a little pick me up.  Maybe it's a nice way to realize just how much we like those people we run into.  But I do know that I enjoy such encounters.   And I hope that the rush and thrill of seeing a familiar face continues to bring me such joy.  

I'm sure at some point or another, I'll have another such encounter at one of the hundreds of home improvement stores about town.  At the rate I've been visiting them all, I'm sure that soon enough the store employees will become some of those familiar faces.  Maybe, at some point in the near future, they'll recognize me too.  And, like on the sitcom, "Cheers," they'll all stop when I enter, smiles will fill their faces, and they'll all yell out, "Kaaaaaaaay!"

* * * * *