At seven pounds, two ounces, Kate Connelly (above right) entered this very large world in the midst of one of those “small world” moments.

It was June 21 at University of Maryland Medical Center, where Mary Connelly had gone the night before to give birth to what would be her first child – not counting Argus (above left).

Argus, a chocolate lab, is a playmate of my dog, Ace, and they’ve been wrestling together since puppyhood. They are among the big dogs at Riverside Park – a lab named Yawkey, another named Henry, another named Jake and, biggest of all, a Bernese Mountain Dog named Buckley - all of whom like to have at it, in a playful, rough and tumble way.

About the time Argus stopped growing, Mary started. Every day in early summer, you could see them at Riverside Park, where Mary would stop to let Argus frolic for a bit, then walk laps. By the middle of June - though, with her small frame, Mary never looked particularly burdened by her pregnancy – it appeared it was time for something to happen.

At 9:53 a.m. on a Thursday, it did. At the University of Maryland Medical Center, Mary's attending physician guided Kate’s head out, and then Emelia Argyropoulos, a resident, took over.

"She was a great support while I was pushing, offering words of support and encouragement," Mary said. "Emelia brought our daughter into the world."

To keep things calm during what would turn out to be an hour-long process, Emelia engaged in some small talk between Mary's pushes, and that's when Emelia and Mary realized they lived in the same neighborhood.

When Mary and her husband Mike mentioned their dog, Argus, Emelia, holding the baby that was not yet halfway out of Mary, said she had a dog too, named Buckley.

“I totally know Buckley!” Mary yelled – shouting partly because of the coincidence, partly because of the circumstances.

Mary had talked at the park several times with Emelia's fiance, Jay Bachman, who usually walks Buckley, and said she'd probably seen Emelia there, too - she just didn't recognize her without a 120-pound dog pulling her.

"I'm sure that I had seen her before, but I didn't recognize her in a different setting," she said.

Dog park connections are funny things. Generally, we get to know the dogs before we get to know the people to whom they are attached. Then, even when we finally do learn the human’s name, sometimes we don’t recognize them if we see them without their dog. Sometimes, through our dogs, we make friends. Sometimes, despite our dogs breaking the ice for us, we merely remain acquaintances who nod and say hello.

Either way, though, there is one less total stranger in the world.

Dogs, by bringing us humans together, help make the world a smaller, warmer place.

Welcome to it, Katherine Ann Connelly.