What's kind of coincidences that have happened to you in your life?

[Candleicious Ghost]

For me selling some of my books.

I love my books, and I've collected them over the years but a time came when I had to sell some and one of them was a book called "Flight the history of aviation" and it was a great hard cover book with lovely colour photos and illustrations, lots of historical facts and cutaway diagrams of various aircraft. Anyway it was one of those I had to sell.

Cut to a year or so later and I was wandering around a second hand bookshop, and there it was the same cover as the book I had sold I laughed to myself "I wonder if it's actually the same one" and flipped open the cover to find it was and had my notes on the inside of the cover, I had written some stuff on the inside cover. It wasn't the place I had sold it to either so it must have moved around but what would be the odds of me landing in another random shop only to find the exact same book I used to own?

I forgot to add it was my exact book with my handwriting on the inside cover... I bought that sucker right away. Still in my collection

 

[Owain Taggart]

Ok, so here's a funny one. When I was younger, I had a friend and we hung around a lot together, but we didn't always tell each other if we would be away on vacation. One such time, I was away out of town visiting my grandparents and other relatives about 6 hours away my hometown, as there was one such city that was more or less a hub for my family. I happened to be visiting a museum with my parents and grandparents, and we walk into the cafeteria to grab something to eat, and there sitting at one of the tables was my friend with his own family. Complete and utter shock seeing as neither of us told each other we were even going away, let alone where we'd be going. The chances of us meeting up completely by accident was quite amusing to all of us.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

Ok, so here's a funny one. When I was younger, I had a friend and we hung around a lot together, but we didn't always tell each other if we would be away on vacation. One such time, I was away out of town visiting my grandparents and other relatives about 6 hours away my hometown, as there was one such city that was more or less a hub for my family. I happened to be visiting a museum with my parents and grandparents, and we walk into the cafeteria to grab something to eat, and there sitting at one of the tables was my friend with his own family. Complete and utter shock seeing as neither of us told each other we were even going away, let alone where we'd be going. The chances of us meeting up completely by accident was quite amusing to all of us.

That's really cool.. I like when things like this happen.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

One of my best friends in high school, Heather, was one of my favorite people in the world. I was in love with her but never told her. I didn't have much self confidence and I was also worried about losing her friendship if I told her. She moved to another town and we lost touch.

About 10 years later, she just happened to move next door to me. It was months before I realized it was her. I'd seen her from a distance and she looked nice but until she knocked on my door one day, I had no idea that it was her.

She was married with 2 kids and was really busy so we never had much chance to hang out. She lived next door about a year and then told me she was getting divorced. Before I knew it, she had moved away again.

It's stupid but I still think of her often. I wonder if fate had given me a second chance and I blew it again.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

One of my best friends in high school, Heather, was one of my favorite people in the world. I was in love with her but never told her. I didn't have much self confidence and I was also worried about losing her friendship if I told her. She moved to another town and we lost touch.

About 10 years later, she just happened to move next door to me. It was months before I realized it was her. I'd seen her from a distance and she looked nice but until she knocked on my door one day, I had no idea that it was her.

She was married with 2 kids and was really busy so we never had much chance to hang out. She lived next door about a year and then told me she was getting divorced. Before I knew it, she had moved away again.

It's stupid but I still think of her often. I wonder if fate had given me a second chance and I blew it again.

Probably. Been there, done that, got the tee shirt so to speak.

Friend who used to be a local artist and model, used to hang out with her a lot and we'd do shoots and I'd help with her paintings by picking things to paint. Anyway after a year I fell madly in love with her, even tried to propose to her but she already had someone but then a couple of years later we kept bumping into each other again and she was going through seperation and of course I did the same thing just didn't click on trying again or trying to hang out see what things are like, might be like.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That reminds me that in high-school, there was a girl a grade above mine that I quite liked, and we even had gone to summer school together, and via that we got to do a lot of outdoorsy things such as horseback riding (where she fell off her horse), to camping and canoeing. I had felt like there might be some connection felt between the both of us especially via the canoeing where we shared the same canoe. After that summer school, I had notes passed to me in the school cafeteria, telling me to call a number, and like an idiot, I never called. Mainly because at that point in my life, I would get a lot of prank calls, some of them quite hurtful, and because of this, I didn't know if this was some kind of setup and I never got courage to call her. The other thing is that I never actually really knew her name, so I wasn't sure if it was from her. I'm pretty sure that years later I saw her in the neighbourhood pushing a stroller. One of life's missed chances, but... I feel like I had a pretty good reason. If I had gotten the courage, life could have turned out pretty different.

 

[Velocity]

This is a really strange, but true, set of coincidences. My mother-in-law (in Illinois) met some old friends in a grocery store parking lot one day. They got to talking, and they mentioned that their son and his family had moved to a dinky little NC town. My mil said that her son and his family had moved to that town, also. Then they said that they lived on blah-blah street and my mil said that her son lived on blah-blah street, too. Then the friends said that their son's wife's name was "xxxxx" and my mil said that her son's wife's name was also "xxxxx". By now, they were beginning to look a little askance at each other. Well, the daughters-in-law each got a job at the USCG base, and wouldn't you know, out of all the different buildings and hangars, they both worked in the same hangar supporting the same aircraft. This whole thing is totally true and it happened just like that. "xxxxx" and I used to love to tell people about this cascade of events. We went to the same hometown high school (out of 5) but we went years apart and didn't know each other then.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

This one happened to me about 10-12 years ago.
At the time I was a delivery driver for a company that delivered medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to nursing homes and recovery centers, which took me all over King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties.
One day, I got a new stop added to the route, which was way down in the Kent/Auburn area, the farthest stop on my route.
Show up at the nursing home, walk into the nurse's station, hand over the totes to the head nurse.
I glance at her nametag, and it rings a bell, and I say, "You wouldn't have happened to have gone to Woodinville High School would you?"
Turns out she did. She was a year ahead of me, but we had crossed paths on occasion because we had mutual friends in common and shared some of the same teachers while in school.
It was fun catching up with her and finding out what some of the other students had been up to since graduation.
But what are the odds of running into someone 25 years after graduation in a nursing home 30+ miles away from high school.​

 

[Nerys Myk]

The woman who became my wife wandered into the bookstore I worked at years after we last saw each other. ( she was dating one of my friends back then) She had no idea I worked there, but knew I once worked for the company. So she asked if anyone there knew me. Just as she was about to leave, I walked up to the front of the store and spotted her. The rest as they say, is history.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

That reminds me that in high-school, there was a girl a grade above mine that I quite liked, and we even had gone to summer school together, and via that we got to do a lot of outdoorsy things such as horseback riding (where she fell off her horse), to camping and canoeing. I had felt like there might be some connection felt between the both of us especially via the canoeing where we shared the same canoe. After that summer school, I had notes passed to me in the school cafeteria, telling me to call a number, and like an idiot, I never called. Mainly because at that point in my life, I would get a lot of prank calls, some of them quite hurtful, and because of this, I didn't know if this was some kind of setup and I never got courage to call her. The other thing is that I never actually really knew her name, so I wasn't sure if it was from her. I'm pretty sure that years later I saw her in the neighbourhood pushing a stroller. One of life's missed chances, but... I feel like I had a pretty good reason. If I had gotten the courage, life could have turned out pretty different.

The woman who became my wife wandered into the bookstore I worked at years after we last saw each other. ( she was dating one of my friends back then) She had no idea I worked there, but knew I once worked for the company. So she asked if anyone there knew me. Just as she was about to leave, I walked up to the front of the store and spotted her. The rest as they say, is history.

Yeah these kind of things, when they happen always make me wonder what could have been and instant regret.......

 

[Owain Taggart]

^ Yeah, I had been kicking myself for years. But looking back, I wasn't in a great place back then, didn't have the confidence I do now. Being bullied lots will do that to you. I've had a number of things done to me back then that I'm sure wouldn't be tolerated these days, and this was just before schools had begun to do zero tolerance or were just starting to. I was worried that the number might have been a grift. But if things had been different, who knows what would have happened?

And speaking of bullies, sometimes you just get a feeling about someone. About one of my bullies, about 10 years after I'd done high school, I'm watching the news and to my shock I see that one person had been accused of stabbing someone at the local movie theatre after an argument broke out.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah these kind of things, when they happen always make me wonder what could have been and instant regret....

We've been married for 32 years. Worked out for me.

 

[Candleicious Ghost]

We've been married for 32 years. Worked out for me.

Yes well you were one of the lucky ones that do jump on the opportunity when it came. The rest of us hesitate

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes well you were one of the lucky ones that do jump on the opportunity when it came. The rest of us hesitate

The wife and I had several "near misses" growing up.
While in High School her family had a cabin in the same town as my best friend. To get the falls near my best friends house she ( and other) would cross his family's properties. I spent several summers there my self. So in theory our paths could have crossed.

Later when I took my SATs, it was at her High School. Again our paths could have crossed.

Around the same time she was working at a gym, a gym where my mother worked out. Once again, our paths could have crossed.

And as mentioned, she dated a friend of mine. She later confessed at that time she had a crush on me, but I was with someone else and she was with my friend. When they broke up we lost contact.

So fate was trying to get us together and finally pulled it off.

 

[MrShinzoff]

I was in love with a girl called Suzanne when I was 21-22 but there was a lot of volatility in the relationship and we split up a couple of times. But I missed her and I thought about her constantly for months and I went to see her again. She told me she had a boyfriend but she said it hadn't gotten serious. I was (unreasonably) devastated but I really thought she still wanted to be with me. She told me to come to see her again and to stay in touch.

I had reached my emotional limit with her, though, and I decided to move on with my life, and I wanted to go travelling to see the world. This is the coincidence - on the day of my 23rd birthday, I was in a bookstore going through travel books and I began to realise the song playing in the shop was familiar, and I was quite shocked when I apprehended it was Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne'. I was momentarily convinced that something was communicating with me and urging me to go back to see her. I always loved that song, even before I met Suzanne, and then it had a special meaning for me from the time I got together with her.

But I never went back and I never tried to contact her again. I travelled extensively and my last trip was in the mainland and I was in Venice and I saw that Leonard Cohen was playing at St Mark's Square. I went to the concert and when he played Suzanne towards the end, I felt a deep sadness and regret about the decision I made.

Next day, it was oppresively warm and I was depressed as hell and I wandered around and found myself at the Rialto bridge. The view was so beautiful, and I was already in an emotional state - and I started to cry. Then I felt something again - like a presence that appeared in my mind that was vastly compassionate and wise and more pronounced than last time (hearing voices was/is not a common experience for me). It seemed to speak to me and it told me that regret was a trivial emotion when a person broadened their perspective on life. It told me that what happened wasn't my fault either. I never understood that until fairly recently. I realised I was so young then and just not equipped to make the right decisions for my life. It wasn't my fault because I was an idiot.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

Reminds me of a time in high-school where I had a co-op placement. Several of us were helping out in an alzheimer's ward at an assisted living facility. I got assigned to one lady in particular, and our job was to escort them to the gym for some excersizes. The lady I was with was a sweet lady, and when people have dementia, familiarity breeds comfort, so it was important for us to be regular with them. We did this a few times throughout the co-op.

Several years later, I'm sleeping and I get this dream about her that was so vivid. There was no real reason for it as I didn't really know her, especially for a memory to show up out of the blue. But it felt more than a memory, and more like a spiritual visitation. She had effectively chosen me to say goodbye to. As I got up, I was in shock and all I could do was browse the obituaries, and sure enough she was listed as having been deceased. I was quite moved by the entire experience.