Luck, serendipity, chance, fate—call it what you will, but unusual coincidences likely play at least some sort of role in your life. There are moments in life when things line up a little too neatly, whether for good or ill, and it can make you question a lot of things about how life works, even if there are perfectly rational explanations for what’s happening.

After diving deep all over the internet, our team here at Bored Panda has collected some of the most interesting stories from people who opened up about the most bizarre coincidences that they have ever personally experienced. Scroll down for their mind-blowing tales.

#1

When I was 8, my best friend and his family came over to bring me a Christmas present. “Guess what it is?” my friend said. I had absolutely no idea, so I just said the weirdest, most random thing I could think of. “An inflatable dinosaur,” I guessed. And it was. It was gigantic.

Image credits: Quartersharp

#2

This happened to my brother when we were a lot younger.

First of all, we were a poor family from eastern Europe, so we shared a PC. Both me and my brother were really into gaming and that PC was the only option to play video games.

One time my parents planned a one day trip in the forest in the mountains. My brother, who was like 12-13 refused to come, to play video games of course.

When we got back, he kinda looked frightened, but didn't say a word, he was just very happy to see us somehow, which was weird.

Later that evening he told me that he sat playing games, randomly looked at the light in the room, which was on, and said 'If demons exist, the light should go off'. He said, that in an instant, the light went off.

Pretty terrifying for a child in a christian family, but now I only think, what a fucking coincidence ot was haha

Image credits: anonymous

#3

I was w/ a friend and he's chatting up this girl... I end up sitting in her car while they talk on her porch and I guess I was fiddling w/ the knobs and switches on the dash; I left everything as I found it but I must have inadvertently dimmed the console lights all the way down.

Years later I meet the same girl, end up sitting in her same car and it's night time, her dash lights are out; "have been for years" she says.

I lean over and turn the dimmer up.

Image credits: HouseAtomic

According to Stacker, the chances of you getting struck by lightning in a given year are just 1 in 1,222,000. Though, that probability rises to 1 in 15,300 over a person’s entire lifetime.

The chances of losing your life in a tornado are just 1 in 13,000,000. This will be higher if you live in an area where storms frequently pass, take unnecessary risks around tornadoes, or live in a mobile home.

Meanwhile, the probability of you getting struck by a meteorite is unclear, ranging from (a relatively high) 1 in 3,000 to (a very low) 1 in 250,000.

Contrast this with your odds of winning the lottery. The chances of you winning the Powerball jackpot stand at 1 in 292.2 million, and if you’re aiming for the Mega Millions jackpot, your odds are barely 1 in 302.6 million.

You’ll have much better luck finding a four-leaf clover, which occurs around once every 10,000 regular clovers.

#4

My mother and I had a thing where we would always tell each other "Be careful" before the other would leave somewhere. Once, I forgot and that day she was in an accident on the way home. 6 months later, I forgot again. Again, accident. So I never missed saying it again.

She died in 2012 and I remember driving to the funeral home to plan her funeral, past this church that always changed their signs on Wednesdays. The sign for that Wednesday said only "Be careful". That was it. No other words. No Bible citation, just that.

Image credits: Stalked_Like_Corn

#5

When I was 12yro, an exchange student stayed at my house for a couple of weeks, and we became friends. One day we had a conversation about how we spent our birthdays, and we found out we happened to be exactly the same age. We were born on the same day, month and year.

Image credits: cheturo

#6

I grew up in a small town in California, then moved to Missouri as an adult. Before moving, I spent my early 20s working in a local video store in that small town. 14 years later, I was in hospital in Missouri, having surgery to break up a kidney stone. The overnight patient care person looks familiar to me. Every time she comes in, I keep thinking I know her, but can't figure out why. She mentions she's from California, and I say I am too. Turns out, we're from the same small town, and she was a regular customer of mine. She said she'd been trying to figure out why she recognized me too.

Image credits: rivalconga

No matter how skilled, educated, talented, and prepared you (think you) are, luck is still going to be an important factor in your life. Good and bad luck can both affect you very deeply. You might accidentally meet someone who then becomes a great friend, or you might stumble across an awesome job opportunity that is extremely meaningful to you. On the other hand, you might get into an accident, fall ill, or get laid off.

You can (and should) prepare for some unfortunate eventualities, but not for all of them. And living in constant fear and anxiety that something awful might happen to you is horrible for your physical, emotional, and mental health. So, every once in a while, it’s important to remind yourself of the things that you can control and the things you can’t because there are too many moving parts.

#7

Enzo Ferrari, founder of Ferrari (on the left), died in 1988. Mesut Özil, footballer (on the right), was born in 1988.

Image credits: Amritendu Dey

#8

My wife and I backpacked around Vietnam for three weeks. One place we stayed in had a television so while I was waiting for my wife to get ready to go out one night I flicked on the TV to see what Vietnamese viewing was like. We could only get reception on a few channels and since the other two were Vietnamese talk shows I left it on a program that was doing current affairs in English. It was a strange mixture of footage from Australian programs so I recognised the presenter from TV back home.

I had the TV on for about five minutes while I waited and was about to switch it off when I looked up and saw my brother on the screen. The network was showing a program from Australia about marriage and it included couples showing excerpts of their wedding videos. My brother officiated at the wedding of one couple and so he was clearly visible on the screen for about ten seconds.

When I got back to Australia I mentioned this to my brother. He had no idea he'd been on Aussie TV let alone replayed on Vietnamese TV. I can say with almost one hundred percent confidence that my brother has only appeared on Vietnamese TV for ten seconds in the entire time they've been broadcasting, it blows me away to think that it happened to occur in the ten minutes of Vietnamese TV that I happened to be watching.

Image credits: David Stewart

#9

I was working in a small shop and the owner was away and the till broke, it wouldn’t power up or do anything. This was a nightmare because a typical customer would buy many small items - it was mainly crafts.

While we were still wondering what on earth to do, a guy walked in and asked if we were interested in getting a new till and would we like one on trial? He was a till salesman.

Image credits: Dave Smith

Some of the main things you can control include broad areas like your health, relationships, finances, and leisure. For example, how you approach health, diet, and fitness, how much you invest in your relationships, who you spend the most time with, where you work, how much you save vs spend, what you invest your hard-earned money in, how you spend your spare time, what new skills and crafts you learn, etc.

Though nobody is immune to bouts of bad luck or geopolitical and economic shocks on a global scale, what you can do is ensure that you are in the best possible position to absorb those shocks and recover as quickly as possible. In short, you want to be as flexible and resilient as you can. That means prioritizing your health, fostering a strong network of reliable and positive people, having some sort of financial emergency fund, and having a growth-oriented mindset where you’re constantly improving in one shape or form.

#10

March 1, 1950, in Beatrice, Nebraska.

It was a chilly Wednesday evening in the rural Nebraska town. Reverend Walter Klempel went to West Side Baptist Church to start the gas furnace so that the choir wouldn’t be cold at practice later that night. After lighting the furnace, he went back home to wait for practice to start—7:20 p.m.

What he didn't know was that the furnace had a leak, and gas was slowly filling the church.

At 7:25 p.m.—five minutes after choir practice started—the gas ignited. The resulting explosion destroyed the church and broke windows in nearby houses. Miraculously, however, not a single choir member was injured or killed.

How did every choir member manage to avoid almost certain death that night? By being late.

Every one of the 15 members of the West Side Baptist Church choir happened to be running late that particular evening, so no one was there when practice was supposed to start. And each person was late for their own, unrelated reasons: car trouble, falling asleep, geometry homework, losing track of time, and just plain laziness were among the reasons the choir members later gave.

While it isn’t unusual for people to be late to choir practice, what are the odds of all 15 happening to be late on the same day?

Literally one in a million.

Image credits: Jon Clemence

#11

My friend’s father, Vincent, served in Korea. After the war he visited his folks in his small home town located at one end of the state of Pennsylvania where he met a gorgeous young woman, Loretta. Although she was engaged to another man, he managed to sweep her off her feet so she broke off that engagement. Vincent and Loretta married and moved 400 miles away to a major city where they stayed and raised a family.

Fifty years later, sadly, Loretta passed away from cancer. Vincent began to spend a lot of time with some seniors from his church and eventually began to have romantic feelings towards one of them, Evelyn. The only trouble was, Evelyn had been keeping company with a man who lived across the street from her, but after a while she broke it off with that man and soon Evelyn and Vincent were married. The guy who lived across the street from her didn’t take it well when she broke it off with him and he saw this other guy coming around her house. He liked it even less when he realized that Vincent was the SAME MAN who had stolen his fiancee Loretta 50 years earlier!!

Image credits: Legal Avocado

#12

I had been living in Japan but after two and a half years I got ill and had to return to the UK. I took the opportunity to visit places along the route, and in Cambodia I met a woman who was returning to New Zealand from Hong Kong. We visited Angkor together and ended up on the same flight to Bangkok where we said goodbye. We didn’t keep in touch.

Fast forward a couple of years and one day I went to a supermarket in the Kings Road, Chelsea, an area I had never been to before, while a friend went to a nearby shop to return a purchase. As I waited at the cashier a woman in the next line called across to me and said “Don’t I know you?” I wracked my brain and she said “Didn’t we go round Angkor Wat together?” As coincidences go that one is hard to beat.

Image credits: Vivien Tarkirk-Smith

What are the weirdest coincidences that you’ve personally experienced, dear Pandas? Do you believe more in chance or fate? What’s the biggest bout of good luck that you’ve ever had? On the flip side, what’s the longest streak of bad luck that affected you? How did both of them impact your life?

Grab a snack or a hot drink and share your thoughts in the comments below.

#13

When I was around 8 years old I went to an adventure/theme park based in the UK. While playing in a castle themed wood-chip play area I climbed up one of the towers by ladder into the small room. There were around 10 or 12 of these towers around the play area. When I entered my head into the small room I was met with the sight of a huge shit in the corner covered in flies and a pair of blue socks covered on shit also. Disgusting and weird but yeah, these things happen.

When I was 15 I moved to another city on the other side of the country and became best friends with a kid on my street. We’re still best friends now 16 years later.

One day we were talking and the theme park came up to which my friend told me he did a shit in one of the rooms in the castle play area when he was 8 and that he wiped his arse with his socks. I was astonished and asked him particularly which tower and what colour were the socks. He said they were blue and described the same tower.

So I saw my future best friends shit 7 years before I moved across the country and met him.

Weird right?

Image credits: ResponsibilityWise74

#14

When I was in the early stages of dating my spouse, I brought her to my hometown to meet my parents. While looking at an old family photo album, she pointed to a picture and said "how do you know this man?" I answered, "that's my uncle" and she said, "No, he's my uncle!" Turns out her mother's sister married my mother's brother.

Image credits: Bongo_Goblogian

#15

The summer before grade 5 my family moved 2 provinces west. I was sad to leave all my friends but I was especially excited to get away from my bully, a loser named Geoff. On my first day at my new school, the teacher introduced two new students to the class. Me and my bully Geoff from two provinces away. We had both moved from the same Small Town, Saskatchewan to the same Small Town, British Columbia. What are the chances.

Image credits: _incredigirl_

#16

This happened recently.

I went back to my alma mater to watch a football game. After the game, i was supposed to spend the night at a friend’s parents’ house. We got separated so he texted me the address - only problem was he messed up the street number. I then spent a good ten minutes trying to convince the woman that lived in the house next door that i knew her son and we were friends so she should let me inside. It was very embarrassing when i realized my mistake.

The very next day i got dinner with a different friend from college who has never met the friend i went to the game with. I’m telling him this story and i happened to mention the address. He immediately got really suspicious of my story. Turns out It was his house and his mother i tried to stay at. Everything i told that woman was inadvertently true - i really did know her son!

Image credits: anon

#17

When I was a kid our class had a cake raffle in relation to mother's day. I went around our area and sold tickets. People were so friendly and brought me in for tea and cake. I had a great time. We had ten cakes people could win and nobody I had sold tickets to won. I was so disappointed and angry I decided to bake a cake to the lady who bought most tickets from me. I went to her house on mothers day to give it to her. Turns out not only was it mothers day, it was also her birthday and we delivered the cake in time for her birthday party. Best accidental cake gifting ever.

Image credits: buheeh

#18

When I was a student in the 70’s I hitchhiked from Durham to Dundee with a friend to see a concert. It only took us two main lifts - a delivery lorry followed by a nice lady in a car. We didn’t have anywhere to stay and ended up being allowed to sleep in the waiting room of a local hospital. The next morning we were hitching outside the hospital and got picked up by the same woman - she dropped us in the place she had picked us up and then the same lorry driver picked us up from there and brought us back the rest of the way!

Edited - I’ve been teasing out this memory and realised it was this Tubular Bells concert in 1980! So a couple of years after I graduated.

Image credits: Spinningwoman

#19

I used to work at a movie theater. One day a group of people from an organization that helps mentally handicapped people experience a sense of normalcy in their life come through. They each had their own cash and came to concessions for candy and popcorn.

One girl in my line had a bunch of candy but was 1.25 short, and when I told her this she had this look of defeat and was about to start crying so I just told her she was fine and covered it myself. She happily took her candy and went to watch her movie.

The next day I got a "keep the change" tip from a random customer of 1.25. That was the only tip I ever got at that job.

Image credits: explosively_inert

#20

I was living in America and went for holidays to Mexico. There, I matched with a hot Mexican girl on tinder in Cancun. We chatted but never met. I never unmatched her neither she did.

A year later I have noticed her 2 miles away. She was a summer student in the same town in the UK where I relocated.

I messaged her, she still didn’t want to meet.

Image credits: oliverjohansson

#21

I used to spend my summers working in the office at a church camp in northern Iowa. I became friends with some of the people who spent their vacation there, especially this one little girl who would stay for two weeks every summer. I was sort of a big sister for the two weeks her family was there.

Then came the summer I had my internship in New York City and I didn’t go to camp. I was sort of bummed that I wouldn’t see this girl.

One weekend a bunch of us decided to go to Washington DC, and I wore my staff shirt from the camp; it had very distinctive stripes across the shoulders.

We are in the Smithsonian and I feel someone touch my arm. I turned around, and it is that little girl who was my friend. She had her parents had gone from Iowa to DC for part of their vacation. They’d missed me at camp that year. But they didn’t quite believe her when she said she saw me until they spotted the stripes from across the room. .

Image credits: TootsNYC

#22

Not mine, but my friend's story. Her cousin moved to Japan and noticed that someone in their building had the same last name (looking at the apartment buzzers or mailboxes or wtv). It's a relatively unusual Moroccan Jewish last name, and obviously they're in Tokyo so that's pretty weird to begin with to see a non-Japanese name let alone the exact SAME name.

So they knock on the door and are like "Hi... this is weird but I'm you're neighbour and we have the same last name... are we possibly related?" and it turns out the neighbour was a branch of their family that had gotten "lost" - nobody knew what had happened to them. It's a MASSIVE family with literally hundreds of cousins in the same generation, and this particular bit of the family had just gotten lost in the mix. The parents would have known these people's parents, and so everyone got back in touch and they got reconnected with the whole rest of their family! I thought that was crazy... what are the odds?

Image credits: goodhumansbad

#23

Not mine, but a friend's.

He had gotten out of the military and had developed a drinking problem. One night at the bar he drove his truck home drunk and hit a motorcyclist, killing him. Goes to court, ready to face his doom, when a woman reaches out to the court to express her gratitude to my friend. She is the wife of the motorcyclist who he killed. She says that her husband had schizophrenia and had random bouts of rage. That night he left her a voicemail (which she played for the court) in which the guy told her over the phone that he was coming over to murder her. She said she prayed when she got that voicemail that something would prevent him from getting to her house. And what do you know, my friend accidentally murdered him. The woman tried to argue with the judge that he wasn't a drunk driver, but an angel who sent him home at that exact moment to stop her husband. She didn't want him to face jail time because he was doing the world a good deed.

He ended up getting 3 years in prison and only served 2 for good behavior. The judge felt sorry for the situation but you can't just not send someone to prison for drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter.

Image credits: SparkleFritz

#24

When I was a kid, we used to drive past this old abandoned school on a hill on the way to the grocery store. I always thought it would be cool to make it a house and live there. Years later someone tore down the school and built a house there. I was an adult then and had my own kids and was living in a house with a leaky basement. As I was driving my kids to the grocery store, I would pass this house and think, it must be nice and dry living up on that hill. I bet he doesn't have a leaky basement. Fast forward a few more years, I am divorced and remarried. We are looking to buy a house. A guy my wife works with is selling his house. It turns out to he that very same house on the hill. I live here now and am writing this comment from my nice dry house on the hill.

Image credits: Wyzard_of_Wurdz

#25

Ah, Danny Tupper

On my internship program, which recruited people from all across the country, I hung out a lot with this one guy from Overland Park, Kansas, who went to the University of Kansas. We’ll call him Danny Tupper. (Slightly unusual last name; definitely identifiable)

So a couple of years later, I’ve moved to NYC, and the residences hall I live is, we’re having a party on the roof. There’s a new girl, and she’s from Kansas. Oh, where in Kansas? I ask. Overland Park.

Now, as a JOKE, I saw to her, “Oh, do you know Danny Tupper?” Because, you know, if I say I’m from Iowa, people ask me if I know some other random person also from Iowa. And Overland Park is a suburb of KC, so it’s not a tiny town, so it’s ridiculous to think that she REALLY knows this random person that I know. She looks at me kind of funny and says, “My mom and his mom play bridge.”

Oooh Kay.

Then, I’m in a. Friend’s wedding in Missouri (we went to college together at a small college in Mo.), and am chatting with the groomsman I’m paired up with; I knew he was in the same fraternity as the groom, which is the same frat Danny was in.He and the groom met during a summer frat workshop at the University of Missouri. He mentions he went to school at the University of Kansas. He’s several years younger than me, so maybe he wasn’t in school at the same time, but I ask anyway, “Oh Do you know Danny Tupper?” Yep: “His little brother was in my pledge class; he was a big mentor for me.”

Oooh Kay.

THEN…I’m chatting with my best friend from college; she tells me she went on a job interview at a company in our industry in Overland Park. I don’t think much of it; it’s several years, and people move around, but I remind myself to make the “do you know Danny Tupper?” joke once she’s done with her story. She describes meeting people, then going into the office of a senior exec, who looks at her resume, says, “Oh you went to Smaller Missouri College? Do you know TootsNYC?” Then she says TO ME, “Do you know Danny Tupper?”

He had a really great girlfriend, or I might have picked up stakes and moved to Overland Park to try to marry him.

I was going to get a T-shirt and wear it everywhere.

Image credits: TootsNYC

#26

Years ago before cell phones and e tickets, I was supposed to meet a friend at the stadium for an NFL game. He gave me his row and seat number but not the level or section number. Our tickets weren't near each other. We were just going to meet up there and find empty seats together somewhere/anywhere. I got to the game realized the error wandered for a bit. Went to the closest section to just look at the action on the field really quick before I just found my section and sat to watch the game alone and there he was!! What are the odds?!

Image credits: DiggityShack

#27

Simple and sweet - mom got me a beanie baby dog plush and asked me what it's name was. I named it Scooter. My mom was like they come with names it's on the tag. The name on the tag? Scooter. Blew my 3 year old mind

Image credits: rakfocus

#28

I was around 16 and travelling with a few schoolmates for a sports competition in another city. Boys were sharing one hotel room, girls another. We were lying around mid-afternoon with the TV on and an add for Fruit Loops comes on. They looked so appetizing at that moment and it dawns on me that I have the freedom at this stage in my life, on this trip to just go and get some. I put my coat on, rally a friend to come with me down the elevator and across the street to the variety store. As I go to exit the hotel room door there is a knock. I open it to one of the girls from next door, standing at the door to ask us what's up. In her hands, is an opened box of Fruit Loops that she's snacking on.

It was not any kind of theme or discussion point prior to that moment.

Image credits: therealfarmerjoe

#29

Cousin of mine was born in a hospital basement during a tornado. They named him after our grandfather bc it was his birthday, and later found out that a local man with the exact same name died during the tornado.

Image credits: sergecreme

#30

I was born and grew up in CT until I was 5. I had a few close friends there but after I moved I lost touch and never spoke to them again. When I was moving out of my mothers house to go to college I was going through old pictures. I found a picture of me at the CT town carnival riding the merry go round. There in the background, also on the merry go round was my very best childhood friend. I didn’t even know it at the time that she was there. This is the only pic I have of her

Image credits: lulu-bell

#31

I live in Canada. In summer 2001 my family went on vacation to Florida and we stayed at this hotel in Daytona Beach. One night while my dad was getting ice from the machine, our next door neighbor from home came up behind him to get ice as well. When my dad turned around and saw who it was, they were both surprised. Turns out our next door neighbors from home were staying in the room next to us at the hotel, and not only that but they had booked their room for the same 4 days that we did. Considering neither family even knew the other was going on vacation, it was a pretty amazing coincidence.

#32

My sister guessed a zip code correctly. It was a question in a trivia game. She just blurted something out and it was correct. Roughly a chance of 1/10000

#33

I still can't believe it!

Once I went for an examination. 15 mins were left for the commencement of exams. So, I thought it's better to interact with the guy seated beside. And it goes this way…

Me: Hey, I'm Anish.

He: Wait, What? Even my name is Anish.

Me: Surname?

He: George! (Anish George)

Me: Even my full name is Anish George! Wow!

He: Woho, what a coincidence? Suddenly he gazed at my screen and said, “No way, it can't happen!”

Me: Hey, what happened?

He: We share our birthday on the same date and year.

I was insanely surprised!!

Later, many similarities were revealed except he wasn't my doppelganger. Sigh..

Cheers!

#34

This happened about 12 years ago. My daughter has epilepsy, and she was about 9 at the time that this happened. We were having a lot of trouble with her going into absolute uncontrollable rages. A lot of this could be contributed to the epilepsy medication Kepra that she was taking at the time. It is well-known for causing aggression and rages in children. But they were getting worse and worse, and it was mentally, physically, and emotionally so draining. I knew it wasn't her fault, but that doesn't really make you feel much better when you're getting hit, or things thrown at you, and screeching going on and on and on, and all your things broken. My husband and I spoke with a pastor of our church about it when he came up to visit her in the children's hospital during one of her stays. Just for the emotional support for us as parents because he was very good about that kind of thing.

Anyways, these rages were happening more and more frequently. One day I answered the phone and a woman introduced herself and said that she was calling from the church, and that Pastor Marty had asked her to give me a call because she had dealt with some of the things I was going through, and she was a pediatric nurse. So I started talking with this woman, I was at a very fragile moment that day because things had been really rough as far as the raging went. So I really unloaded, and I told her what was going on. And she said to me “Do you by chance use Pine-Sol to clean your house?” It was a pretty odd question. The funny thing though was that I did indeed use Pine-Sol to clean my house. In fact I had a lot of it because there had been a going out of business sale somewhere. So I told her that I did, and she told me to immediately stop using it. She said that she didn't know exactly what the connection was, but she had spoken to many many parents who are having behavioral problems with their children out of the blue, and out of the nature of the child. She said that the one thing they all had in common was that they all used Pine-Sol. So I thought that was pretty strange, but I was more than willing to stop using it if it was going to help our situation any.

So here is where the weird coincidence kicks in. We spoke for a little while longer, and I thanked her for her time and told her I was going to try this, and then I said something about the pastor and his wife. And she said “Wife? What wife?” Apparently her Pastor Marty was not my pastor Marty. She was not even in the same state as me. She had dialed the wrong number! She just happened to also have a pastor named Marty, and she just happened to accidentally dial a wrong number where there just happened to be a mother, me, desperately needing help with their rage filled child. We were both completely surprised, and we laughed about it, and I thanked her for her advice.

Just so you know, I stopped using the Pine-Sol, and my daughter's rages went down about 90%! I don't even know the woman's name. She introduced herself at the beginning of the call, and I cannot even remember her name, but what she did for me that day, and did for our family that day, I will never, ever be able to thank her enough.

#35

Coincidence #1:

Attending University of Florida, I began research on my senior project in Computer Science. Since this was in the pre-Internet era, I used the library. I went into the Engineering Library and consulted Computer and Control Abstracts, a huge index of published literature in the computing field. From there, I identified four articles that might be helpful in my project of choice. I was able to find three of them in the vast holdings of the Engineering Library, but they didn't really pan out. The fourth sounded much more promising, but I couldn't find it. It was in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence, Volume 4, number 6, published by the North Holland Publishing Company. I had never heard of the journal or the publisher before. I was very impressed by the huge number of periodicals available in the long corridors of floor-to-ten-foot-ceilings of the engineering library, but I didn't see that journal.

I consulted the reference librarian. She confirmed that the UF engineering library didn't subscribe to that journal. She also said it wasn't in the main library buildings across campus, but maybe Florida State had it, and I could get it on an interlibrary loan from them in 6 weeks or so. (That would be totally useless to a student with a due date.) I wasn't really sure what to do next -- I really needed a starting point for this project.

I had a class scheduled the next period downstairs. It was a computer science class, but not the same one for which I was researching. I went straight there from the library. I mentioned my research to no one.

I was barely seated at my desk in class, when a friend of mine walked in and without a word put a magazine on my desk. It was -- The Journal of Artificial Intelligence, Volume 4, Number 6.

I was speechless. I somehow managed to ask where he got it. He said a friend of his had written off asking about subscribing. He had found it way too expensive for a student, but they had sent him a sample issue -- this was it. Anyway, the friend had lent it to him and he just thought I might be interested in it.

The article was everything I had hoped it would be. I completed my senior project successfully.

Coincidence # 2

This story is from before web-based genealogy research became feasible on the internet. I had never done any genealogy research on my family. One day I was in my local library in Florida, which had a modest genealogy section. I began to browse the genealogy stacks at random with the intent of becoming familiar with the available genealogy resources. About the second document I picked up was an unbound collection of photocopied pages stapled together entitled A Compilation of the Descendants of [omitted] and [redacted]. I had never heard of any family connection to those surnames. However, I opened it up at random, and saw my mother's name! She was one of those descendants. So, in my first five minutes as a genealogist, seven generations of my ancestry was revealed.

This was not a local hometown document. It was from Georgia and mostly about Georgia and I was in Florida.

I proceeded to photocopy the pages so I would have it at home. On getting home with the copy, I saw a faint image of an address label on the title page. It was the name and address of my great aunt in Atlanta! She had been dead 10 years at that point, so I was not able to ask her how this came to be. Apparently, she had possession of a previous copy of this document at one time. She had never said anything about genealogy to my mom or to me. I can only suppose that she had sent a copy of this document to my local library in the hope that we would become interested in genealogy sooner or later and find it. If so, it worked! Why she wouldn't have sent us a copy directly I don't know.

#36

There were a number of strange coincidences that occurred to me and others in and around the 6 month period from April 2007, when my 16 year old son Kyle passed away suddenly, and unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage.

They began just a few weeks before he died, when the step father of his girlfriend drowned in a diving accident. He stayed with her constantly, supporting her and comforting her. On the day of the funeral Kyle travelled to the crematorium by taxi with their group of friends when he (as relayed to me separately by two people present) calmly asked them what they would do 'when' he died; my son proceeded to ask his best friend to take care of his (Kyle's) girlfriend as she would have two losses to cope with.

Almost 4 weeks later, on 15th April 2007, my son created a single page on MySpace with a profound statement about life filling the page. He also had music playing automatically when the page was opened. The song ironically was 'How to save a life' by The Fray.
The following day, Kyle died.

A month or so after Kyle's funeral, I was driving alone in my car listening to local radio. Suddenly the broadcast stopped and there was around 10 seconds of dead air; a song broke the silence, blurting out from the start of the chorus, '...How to save a life...'.

I told my husband what happened, and I was quite shaken up, but he said it was probably just a glitch by the radio station and it was brushed off.

A few days later exactly the same thing happened. I concluded that the station were having technical issues and maybe this particular song is what they always cut to.
Another few days passed and my husband and I went shopping in the car. I decided to listen to a different station and flicked through to find one we liked. No sooner had I chosen a station when the sound cut out; my husband and I both visibly jumped when the chorus 'How to save a life...' jarred the silence. We had to pull over to take in what had just happened, yet to this day we cannot explain it?

Incidentally, Kyle's best friend did indeed look after his girlfriend, so much so that they fell in love and moved in together. Alas it wasn't to be and they split up 2 years later.

There are a number of other incredulous coincidences that have occurred since Kyle passed away, but I will leave them for another post...

#37

I LOVE the French film, Amélie (2001). Would have seen it over 5 times for Yann Tiersen's soulful music and Audrey Tautou's indelible performance as the quirky protagonist. Needless to say, I am a fangirl. Now comes the coincidence (s) part:

1. Ms. Tautou and I share our birthday. Before you think I am being flippant, I know, that's hardly a coincidence. The website OMG Facts takes it one step further and claims that each person shares his or her birthday with approximately 18 million people worldwide. By that logic alone, at least one celebrity should be there for each of the 365 days that comprise a year (not counting February 29) given how sweeping the term 'celebrity' is. So what if this not a coincidence, at least appreciate me for knowing my onions, when it comes to trivia and pop culture ;). Moving on to the next.

2. Ms. Tautou has donated both her time and money to charities. I work full time for nonprofits and do have my pet charities. Again no biggie, you will say since most celebrities do charity for - PR, feel good factor or genuine goodness of heart. But wait till you see the last one.

3. Ms. Tautou's father is a dental surgeon and her mother a teacher. My parents have the exact same jobs. I was like, get out!

#38

My father was a naval officer, so we lived in a lot of places - some fairly unusual. When I was 13, we moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our home was 8500' above sea-level and 600 miles from the Red Sea - not a place you'd expect to find US Navy.

Dad got to know the Marines in the security detachment at the US Embassy well, and one day Bob, the Gunnery Sergeant, came to him with an unusual request. His fiancee Carol was coming to Addis; they were to be married at the embassy. Bob wanted my dad to stand-in for her father - to give the bride away. My dad agreed immediately. In fact the reception was at our home.

A few months later Bob got orders; he and Carol left Ethiopia, promising to keep in touch. A year later, on a Thursday in September, Bob was walking into the American Embassy in Amman Jordan on his day off; he'd forgotten something. One of the on-duty Marines asked, "Hey Gunny, weren't you in Addis before you came here? Some Americans from there were in a car accident on their way back from Petra. Do you know anyone on this list?"

My name was on that list. You can read about my NDE in another thread. Bob sent the ambulance which brought me from the government aid station, in the middle of nowhere, to a private hospital, in Amman, the next day. He cabled my parents that I was seriously injured; that they needed to come at once. For the next two days, until my father arrived, every time I opened my eyes either Bob or Carol was sitting next to my bed.

Probably just coincidence.

#39

One year ago today, Feb 12, at 2:45 AM I was in the middle of a very distressing dream about my 87 year old dad who was entering the end stages of a 10 year battle with dementia. Life was hard for my mother and all his adult kids because we were taking care of him at home and many of you reading this will know first hand what that entails and how unbelievably difficult it is.

I knew it was 2:45 AM because I awoke with a start, crying out loud…”DAD!…DAD!” I was sobbing as I awoke. After looking at the hour I tried to gather myself and calm down and I laid my head back down trying to convince myself that it was just the stress of it all and only a dream. Two minutes later and from 3000 miles away, in Brooklyn NY, my brother called me to tell me that my father had literally just passed away.

I have no way to figure out how this happened the way it did. The timing, the seeming unconscious awareness. The coincidences all happening at once.

How could I, sleeping in my own bed in California, right after a long visit to NY to help with his profound needs… have known what was happening across space and time?

But it did happen. I am glad it happened. There’s an odd sense of hope and mystery surrounding this that I will never forget.

#40

I write extensively on lesbian-themed Japanese comics and animation. In 1992 I ran an event in NYC. One of the people who came to the event was a Japanese artist, with whom I have become very close friends. (It's not out of the pale to say we were separated at birth, we're just that in simpatico.)

In 2004, she invited me to her house in Japan to see a collection she had received from a friend who had, for some years published a lesbian magazine in Japan. In the collection (which is now entirely in my care,) I found a thesis. I took the thesis home, because it was relevant to my research.

In 2006, I was invited to do a lecture at the Univ. Illinois by the East Asian and Pacific Studies Department. I chose as my topic, the disparate threads of Japanese lesbian community and the Yuri (lesbian comics) community and how they had parallel paths with little interaction until 2003 and are now intertwined. I was writing my lecture, thinking I knew virtually nothing about the Japanese lesbian community in the 1970s, when I remembered the thesis, "Telling Herstory: The Japanese Lesbian Community 1971-2000." Woot.

I did my lecture (three, actually) and had a great time. The Professor who invited me took me out to dinner with one of the grad students and we chatted about how I got into the topic, etc. At some point, the grad student asked me, "where did you get the info about the lesbian community?" I told him about the thesis. He looked at me with a funny expression and said, "I wrote that."

In fact, he had. We went back to my room and he looked at the thesis, which I had brought with me to do last minute research. He told me that it was his original copy.

James Welker, student at the University of Sheffield, had written the thesis and in thanks for all her help, had given the original copy to Hagiwara Mami, publisher of Anise magazine. When Hagiwara-san had decided to clear out her historical Yuri collection, she gave it all to Anise contributor, artist Takashima Rica, who kept it in her family's house in Japan. After she walked into an event I was running in NYC, we became friends and she gave it to me. I used it for a lecture I did at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where James was a grad student.

I made James autograph the copy of his thesis and we've kept in touch since. ^_^ I keep it right here where I write - you just never know when I'll need another coincidence.

#41

Heading home after a night of partying; we were talking about facts most people don't know. I was telling my friend one oddity that I had learned in physics class that year. Everytime you see a nuclear explosion in the movies you can hear the sound right away. Those movies have been edited for the viewers. If, you are really close enough to hear the bomb at the same time as seeing it; you will be dead from the blast BEFORE you hear it. Most of the unedited videos have around 20 to 30 seconds between the viewers/cameras seeing the blast and then hearing the blast.

Right after I was done explaining this the whole Eastern part of the sky lit up with a bright neon green light, just a quick flash; followed by a few bolts of lightning in the same green colour.

It did scare the crap out of us; but we didn't think that it was nuclear. I heard a few day later that a train somehow managed to hit a 10,000Kv transformer causing the light display. The time listed for the accident was about an hour and a half before we saw the light.

Last sentence reminds me of the “Blues Brothers”.

“Have you seen the light?”

#42

One of the strangest ‘coincidences’ I’ve had is when I think about something without saying it out loud, typing it, or mentioning it to anyone, and then, almost like clockwork, I’ll see a post about it, overhear someone talking about it, or get asked a question on the exact topic. It’s happened too many times to ignore.

I know people talk about the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, where once you notice something, you start seeing it everywhere, but this is different.

It’s not like my phone is picking up on my searches or conversations. I never typed or said a word about these things before they appeared. It’s purely thought, and then, boom, there it is, as if reality is playing along.

Maybe it’s just a series of bizarre coincidences or maybe the universe is providing answers to my queries. I should start thinking about winning lottery numbers and see what happens.

#43

I was backpacking on the Tonto Plateau trail in the Grand Canyon in 1981 by myself. It was very remote and unused; in the entire three days I encountered only one person, a man coming from the other direction. I was traveling on a shoestring and couldn’t afford more than a minimalist’s supplies and food. And one thing I neglected to pack was lip balm, which was a big mistake because my lips, within a day, were badly injured by the sun, cracked and painful. My lips were simply a mess and it was painful as hell to eat and drink. For instance, I’d brought a number of big green apples, not the most appropriate food for an ultra-light excursion but cheap and a real treat indeed in the hot dry back country. But it was excruciating to eat them. Even by cutting them into small pieces, my lips screamed in agony!

Now the trail was rather well tended by its visitors in those days and it was rare indeed to find litter of any kind. As a matter of fact I had only seen a single thing on the ground the entire hike, a piece of tissue paper - except for another single thing, and here’s the point of this whole long story: on the second day smack in the middle of the trail was a tube of lip-balm! How the heck did that happen?! That lip balm saved me a lot of suffering!

#44

I worked with a lady called Linda about twenty years before this happened. We got on really well and were on friendly terms, but not ultra-close. Time went by, we both went on to work elsewhere, and we lost touch.

I started my own business, and, after a few years, I had a vacancy for a new member of staff. To be honest, although Linda would have been perfect for the position, I didn't think of her at all: it was years before social media and she had fallen right off my radar.

One day, I got my bank statement. I was just about to open it when I realised that the glue on the envelope had adhered to another bank envelope. The two statements were firmly fixed together, meaning that they must have gone through all the postage procedures as one.

I carefully eased the envelopes apart, so that I would be able to put the other person's back into the post. Then I saw to whom the letter was addressed. It was Linda (I knew instantly because she actually had an entirely unique surname). I couldn't help but smile delightedly.

The bank was one of the giant high-street banks, and Linda's surname begins with an "A" (mine begins with a "P"; it's not even adjacent in the alphabet!): there are nearly 230,000 people in Brighton. What are the chances?

I wrote a little note on the back on Linda's envelope (joking that I now knew all her financial secrets), before I put it back in the post. She phoned me in amazement the next day. We got to talking, one thing led to another, and Linda ended up happily working for me for at least 10 years-until we retired.

#45

A friend ,Anne, was getting married and sent me a wedding invitation. Inside were two invitations, one for me and one for Linda, another woman to whom I am completely unrelated. However, Linda just happened to live in the same building as me so I passed on the invite in person.

I called Anne and mentioned that I had passed on the invite but asked why she did not send it directly to Linda. “Oh my goodness, “ exclaimed Anne” I had set aside the card for Linda cause I had absolutely no idea where she was living. When I realized I had misplaced the invitation, I just prayed that somehow it would get to her and it did”!!

#46

When I was at school, one of my best friends was a girl named Evie (she still is).

She started seeing a lovely Canadian guy named Alan (they are now married) and moved in with him a few years later.

At 20, I started dating an equally lovely Canadian guy named Josh, and decided to show him off. I arranged to meet Evie and Alan in a cafe, and when we got there started introducing them. I could see the loving smile on Evie's face, then was amazed by her saying “scaz, that's my brother in law. “

I was dating Alan's younger brother.

We started laughing and chatting about families, I discovered that the boys were from a family of 8 lads, Josh is an identical twin and they were all very close.

Josh and I split up, but are still really good friends. His wife is lovely.

Fast forward 10 years or so, give or take a Wednesday, and my “brother from another mother “ Colin rushes in giddy and giggling. He had finally found man!

I sat and listened to him gushing about how wonderful his new boyfriend was, truly happy for the first time in years. I of course had to vet the man. No one is allowed to hurt my brother!

A few days passed, the door opened and I hear “Scaz? Ben's here!”

I go out, and stand staring. Then laughed.

Colin was dating Josh's twin brother Ben, and no one had a clue they knew each other.

Ben and Colin are still together, so I love my ex brother in law brother in law dearly.

#47

A friend of mine went adventuring in his late 20’s to Morocco. He decided he wanted to see how the “real people” lived so he left the tourist areas and ventured on foot, alone, into the outlying rural areas where the locals lived. When the light started to fade he realized he was lost and no one spoke English to help him.

He wandered the streets until it was dark. Since there were no street lights, he stumbled around just hoping that he would somehow find his way back to the village center. He was fumbling down a pitch-black narrow alley when he suddenly ran smack into someone.

In that instant, a million thoughts ran through his head: middle of the night, somebody lurking in a dark alley, stupid tourist lost and out of my element, I’m a dead man, etc.” Forgetting that he hadn’t heard English in hours, he blurted out, “Excuse me!”

“Oh, that’s ok,” a feminine voice came out of the darkness.

“Wait, you speak English?” he said, amazed.

“Yes, I sort of got lost. Do you know how to get back to town?”

“No, I’m lost too.”

They decided to stick together and eventually, through dumb luck, found their way back.

When they got to a place with enough light, they recognized each other; they had been in the same class in high school, and had actually known each other well!

#48

A good friend of mine from school went backpacking across Italy with a tour group for 3 weeks just after graduating college. One day, while aboard the tour bus for the day’s adventure, they came across another tour bus that had gotten a flat tire and was stuck on the side of the road. Apparently, this was a remote location and it was going to take several hours before help would arrive, so they let all the stranded tourists board their bus, as there was more than enough room.

Among the stranded tourists there were 4 Americans, 2 men and 2 women. These were the only people that spoke English from that group, so my friend, being the sweet soul that she is, motioned for the Americans to come sit with her group, also the only Americans in their tour group. After all the welcoming greetings and introductions, they decided to talk about their hometowns and where each is from. Come to find out, one of the guys in the group of stranded tourists lived in the same town as my friend. They got to talking, and found out they went to the same college, and they knew some of the same people… it was a really bizarre coincidence, but they were thrilled to have met. They ended up spending the rest of their vacation together, and even got to sit next to each other on their flights home.

That was in 1994… today Jason and Melinda have 2 beautiful children (their eldest daughter just turned 16!) and live a life that most can only dream about. I look at her life and it makes me so happy to know that true love can be found in the most unexpected of places… besides, I love stories like this!

#49

I worked as an RN in a hospital in a big city with several hospitals. When I bought my car, I got my loan through the credit union available for hospital employees. It was very convenient because they had offices right across the street from my hospital.

One day, I went to the credit union to take out some cash for some big expense, and I needed to transfer the money to my checking account. For some reason, this CU did loans and savings, but not checking accounts. So, they gave me my money and a receipt that had all the details, including my new balance. I just glanced at the receipt on my way out, and was astounded to see how much money I had left. Then I thought about it for a moment, and was positive I didn’t have that much money in my account.

So I went back and explained that there must be some error, I didn’t have that much money. At first the teller obviously thought I was nuts, but she said:

You’re First Name, Last Name, right?

Yup.

first Name, Middle Name, Last Name, right?

Yup.

And you work as a Respiratory Therapist at different hospital?

Uhh, no.

So, there was an employee at a different hospital with my exact name who almost lost a bit of money.

But the even strangest thing was, I was telling my friend at the hospital what had happened, and she said, oh, I know her, she’s really funny and nice, you’d like her!

I never did get to meet her, but now that I’m telling this, I hope she is well.

#50

Many years ago, when I was about 5 years old, one day I noticed my dad had a big burn scar on his chest and back. I asked him what happened. He told me he was in a train wreck when he was young, it got on fire, he was OK but many of his schoolmates were unconscious and would die, so he saved as many as he could by taking them outside, going in again, etc. and got burnt. I didn’t believe him, I thought “My dad is tricking me, he wants me to think he is a super hero like superman”. But I didn’t say anything and didn’t ask anymore. He always told us stories at nighttime that he invented, so it wouldn’t be odd for him to tell me a fantastic story.

When I was 12 years old, my dad died. I have missed him all my life, and I’m 63 so it’s a long time.

At the age of 19, I went to Colombia and stayed many months, at an uncle’s home. His wife worked at the Chilean Embassy and got me a job as a receptionist. One day, an old man asked me for help because he had lost his passport, so I gave him directions to get a new one. A few days later, he came back to thank me, and asked my name. “Solange De Vidts” I said. Then we had this conversation:

“De Vidts? Are you Carlos De Vidts granddaughter?”
“No, I am his daughter”
“Oh, please send him my kind regards”
“I’m sorry, he died”
“Oh, I’m so sorry! Your dad saved my life”
“What? How come?”
“Well, when we were at the Escuela Militar (Military School), the students of the last year were to go to Argentina, to march for their Independence day. Your dad wasn’t supposed to go, because he was in the penultimate year, but asked to go and as he was the best student with the highest grades, they let him go. We were on the train and had a terrible accident at Alpatacal, it was a tragedy, many died. I was unconscious and your dad took me out, I don’t know how he managed because he was small. So he saved me.”
At that moment I remembered the story my dad told me, and realized that my dad had told me the truth. Felt so guilty for not believing him!

It was a very strange coincidence, that accident is called “The tragedy of Alpatacal”, it was in 1927. To meet one of the survivors decades later, who recognized my name because it is not common in Chile, in another country, is a huge coincidence, that allowed me to know better my dad, years after his death. I even found photos, where I could identify my dad.

#51

Cricket Coincidence

We knew very well that Kohli will break all records in future and surpass Sachin.

But there are many instances where he did the same way the Sachin did in the past.

First came when ind were playing against SA in 3rd ODI 2018 where kohli slammed another century as usual but the best coincidence is that the Kohli broke the record set by Sachin of highest run in SA. He scored 160(159) and scored 34th century and the previous record was set by Sachin 152(151) and he also scored 34th century and Kohli is 29 age now and the time Sachin scored 34th century he was also 29 years old.
This photos simply give you the answer
183 is a captain’s number. When Ganguly scored 183 and later he became the captain of Indian team and same trend is followed by Dhoni and Kohli…what a coincidence
Next big Coincidence is with Pakistan. Pakistan won all the ICC trophies against England or in England like 1992 wc Pakistan defeated England in the final and 2017 champions trophy, 2009 T20 wc both were in England. Big coincidence. This means that Pakistan will win 2019 wc too… HaHaha…
Shivstrong

#52

Here's a coincidence that happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

So as part of his job, my dad is in charge of running a mansion that's been around since before the civil war. It's used as a wedding venue, among other things, and it's about 45 minutes from my house.

He was in a meeting one night when the lady he hired to take care of the mansion told him that she saw something on the security cameras.

There were two boys, both around 14-15 years old, who jumped over the gate and were throwing water balloons around on the mansion’s front porch.

They even threw a water ballon at a security camera, giving my dad a clear picture of their faces.

When they got bored of that, they broke open a window and entered the mansion. They then broke 6 more windows before getting bored and leaving.

Still in the meeting, my dad posted a picture of the boys’ faces on the city’s website to see if anyone could identify them, and one of the boy’s moms responded within 5 minutes.

He told me about all this that night when he got home, and we both just had a good laugh at these young boys’ idiocy.

The next day, he called me while he was at work.

“Hey Morgan, do you know Adam Smith?”

I froze. Adam was one of my friends, who had a very rough home life.

I replied that I did know him, and he said that he was one of the boys who vandalized the mansion.

I warned him that he was going to have trouble dealing with his parents, since they had pretty much given up on raising their children.

You see, Adam has 4 older brothers, one of whom (Jake) I was friends with when he was in high school.

At age 20, Jake dropped out of his fifth year of high school and became a drug dealer.

All the other boys in the house smoke cigarettes and had all been to jail before, except Adam.

When I met Jake, I knew there was no saving him from a life of crime.

But I had still held out hope for Adam; after all, he was only 15.

I explained this to my dad on the phone, and he informed me that Adam would likely be going to jail, since his list of his crimes included:

Petty theft.
Stealing over $100 from his boss on the same day of the mansion incident.
Breaking in and entering the mansion.
Vandalism (breaking the 6 windows.)
So basically, my dad just so happened to run the manor that my friend just so happened to choose to bike 30 minutes to get to in order to be stupid, where he then committed his last idiotic crime that sent him to jail.

However, the hardest part was not being able to tell my friend that he'd be going to jail; he thought he was just going to get off with community service.

#53

Now , I can simply say that this is the biggest coincidence of my life .

I normally travel to my hometown with my family in our car . We usually pass by one toll gate during our journey .

The incidence happened 4–5 years ago when we were traveling to my hometown when we passed by the tollgate and got a toll ticket for the same .

I kept the ticket inside the glove compartment.

This time our ticket was 2 way and while returning we had to show the same at the toll gate . So , as we were approaching the toll gate my father told me to take out the ticket . I searched for the ticket and what I found gave my a huge shock .

There were 2 tickets in the box with the EXACT same time but different dates.

By EXACT same time I mean same hour,minute and even seconds .

Moreover , the two tickets should be atleast 5–6 months apart..

PS : I don't have those tickets to support my answer . It's been a long time .

#54

In 1979, I was a college student working on a paper in my dorm room, when I felt a nudge that I should go outside for a walk. This seemed silly and I ignored that thought. Then I felt a blaring in my head to go outside immediately. I stepped out and approached a brick design on the pavement, of a circle with rays emanating . I was on one ray and saw one of my classmates approaching on another ray. We met in the middle of the circle. I felt like he was the reason I was outside. He was agitated and told me he was on his way to talk to our professor, to tell him, that he had to change the topic of his assignment, even though he didn’t want to, because he was unable to find any books on his topic. I asked what his topic was and he responded, “Tarot cards”. I told him, “I’m a Tarot reader and have multiple books.” I brought him back to my dorm and instructed him on layouts and lent him my books. But what are the odds that a guy who desperately wanted to find books on Tarot cards crosses paths with a Tarot reader?

#55

My favorite story is about me and my husband. I was born on an Air Force base. We moved to two different states after I was born, and then to a third new state. where we ended up staying. I was still very young. Even in that state we moved several times. it just so happens the house where we ended up staying, my husband as a little boy would walk right past to go fishing all of the time and at the same time I was living there!

What are the chances of living in so many states and moving so often in this one, we would find a house in which he happens to walk past all of the time?

So we both grew up and pursued our careers which involved both of us living respectively in different states and moving around a lot. We of course still did not know the other even existed

Apparently we both moved back to that same city. I got a job to help out a friend in her small shop for a short while. it just so happened, one of the other women working there was the ex wife of same little boy who used to walk past my house! And the house was not out on a main street either. I finally met him when he came into the shop one afternoon to speak with my friend, his ex wife.

The story continued as i became roommates with my friend and her new husband. Then, he would come to the house to pick up his twin daughters every other week. That is when I got to know him. But we were both in relationships.

Eventually he was divorced again and I too had broken up with my boyfriend.

My friend and roommate, set us up on a date. She just told him she knew someone who he would really like and didn’t say it was me. Way later, he told me he was hoping it was me.

Eventually we were married, and he didn’t just walk by or stop by, he stayed right by my side.

All of this having been said, Please, do not tell me that Divine Intelligence doesn’t have a sense of humor! That was a feat of synchronicity at the hand of a virtuoso!

That great old line from the movie, Casablanca comes to mind; : "Of All The Gin Joints In All The Towns In All The World, She (HE) Walks Into Mine."

Our lives are made up of time overlapping time. It is not purely as linear as we may believe. Something entering into the present time frame from another. Signs and messages all……And the present moment may be the presence of more than just this moment.

#56

So there I was, hopelessly in love.

I was in love with a girl I had met online. She was from Singapore.

I don’t want to show a picture of her for privacy reasons and all my pictures of her from that time in our lives are physical and not digital. It was 20 years ago.

I lost my job in the great “dot com crash” of 2001.

The thing about marrying a foreign person is that, at the time, it was easier to get them brought in on a K1 Fiancé visa than it would be to marry them and try to get them into the country as your wife.

So she visited me and then I visited her. I don’t know why she would want to come to the USA because Singapore is a totally modern city with all modern conveniences and is open 24 hours a day, with taxis, buses, and subway/elevated trains available the whole time.

I guess she was in love with me too!

Anyway, you can maybe tell from the time period mentioned above where this is going.

Yes. This happened after I got back from Singapore.

So anyway the INS became the BCIS which then became the USCIS all during the time I was trying to get her visa done.

The last part, which was the most important (probably) was filling out a document called an “Affidavit of Support”. The USA doesn’t want broke men importing broke women to be broke together in America…go figure.

So I was sweating that one out because the economy at the time did a nose dive as far as conventional web programming was concerned. For some reason people didn’t want to invest in bidets.com…they had other shit to deal with (PUN ALERT).

So there I was, holding off on the affidavit of support while the other forms we’d filed with INS/BCIS/USINS were quickly becoming stale.

Finally, two weeks before my government unemployment benefits were to run out and I would be hanging out on the side of the road with a “Will code for food” cardboard sign, I got a job…programming mission planning software for a military contractor.

I moved from beautiful and God-kissed central Texas, the best place on earth, to….Florida.

Oh well, we lived next to the beach.

She married me anyway.

20 years and 3 kids later we’re still married…and in Florida (dang it).

#57

When I was 17 I was waiting to catch a train to visit my grandparents who lived about 400 miles away. While waiting, an older woman who I guessed to be about 65–70, struck up a conversation with me. She finally asked my first name. I told her. She laughed and said that was also her first name. I asked what her middle was. It was also the same as mine! She asked my last name. I told her and we both freaked out! That was her last name too!!! Not believing this was possible, we both pulled out our driver’s licenses and our names were identical! (And our first and last names are not very common names).