What's the biggest coincidence that's ever happened to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP (and others)—You need to listen to this episode of The American Life. It’s all about coincidences, and it’s amazing. Best episode ever!

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/489/no-coincidence-no-story

This was such a fun and interesting podcast to listen to!

[Anonymous]

I have a few from when I was younger.

Newly married spouse and I were on a 3 week trip across Europe visiting several countries and ran into a friend of my brother's in the Hofbrauhaus in Munich.

I was an exchange student as a teen in a Scandinavian country and befriended another American exchange student and their host family in the same town I was staying in. They invited me to stay with them in their family's old estate house in the middle of a wooded nowhere on the coast that was owned by several branches of their family. The week we were there another branch of the family was also staying in the house who had a son who lived in my home town in the US and went to my rival high school.

Years ago I was trying on clothes in a dressing room at a discount store and a nice middle aged lady asked for my opinion on a dress she was trying on. I gave her my opinion and that was the only interchange we had. At the time I was looking for a house to buy and the next day I went to an open house in the next town over and opened the door and there was the same woman sitting in a chair inside the house. She was the realtor for the property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom died years ago when I was in my early 30s. I always found it deeply upsetting that she would never meet her grandkids.

Let’s say (to keep thing anonymous), she was born on 1/31 and died on 5/22.

DC1 was born on 3/11. DC2 on 2/25.

It gives me some comfort that they are connected to her.

I don't see the connection really. I wouldn't have noticed that.

The numbers are the same.

1 3 1 -> 3 1 1
5 2 2 -> 2 2 5

Another poster and I are saying of all the dates on the calendar (and with how hard it can be to conceive, not knowing the date the baby will be actually be born, etc in my case), it feels like a huge coincidence that the numbers line up so cleanly - twice.

[Anonymous]

My family lived in Kuwait in the 80s and years after we moved back to the US, we randomly ran into another American family we knew from Kuwait on a Kiawah Island beach.

[Anonymous]

Now-spouse and I met when we were in our late 20s/early 30s, both living in Boston.

After dating for a while, we realized that in our early 20s we had lived in houses literally next door to one another in DC (Columbia Heights)—just not at the same time. We’d missed each other by a couple years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our new neighbor is my DH’s AP from years ago.

Oh no!
Do all parties know that all parties know?
Is the AP married?

No. AP’s boyfriend does not know. Me, DH, and AP know.

[Anonymous]

After I was diagnosed with a mental illness, my boyfriend called me a worthless failure dumped me. Ten years later, I ran into him in first class on a flight to LHR. He couldn't take his eyes off my engagement ring.

Best. Revenge. Ever.

[Anonymous]

I met a girl freshman year of college. We were more associates than friends, so I didn't think much of it when she said I'd be perfect for her roommate.
She dropped out mid semester, so I never ended up meeting the roommate.

Sophomore year of college I went skating with a buddy and two of his female friends. Both of them thought I'd be great for their friend who couldn't make it. Casual conversation that went nowhere, so I never got the friend's name.

Junior year of college, a casual acquaintance mentions a girl in her sorority who would be perfect for me. I'm in a relationship, so I decline.

Senior year, I'm in class and meet the girl of my dreams. We exchange numbers and start dating. Over time I learn that she was the same girl they were all talking about.

We invited all of them to our wedding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I met a girl freshman year of college. We were more associates than friends, so I didn't think much of it when she said I'd be perfect for her roommate.
She dropped out mid semester, so I never ended up meeting the roommate.

Sophomore year of college I went skating with a buddy and two of his female friends. Both of them thought I'd be great for their friend who couldn't make it. Casual conversation that went nowhere, so I never got the friend's name.

Junior year of college, a casual acquaintance mentions a girl in her sorority who would be perfect for me. I'm in a relationship, so I decline.

Senior year, I'm in class and meet the girl of my dreams. We exchange numbers and start dating. Over time I learn that she was the same girl they were all talking about.

We invited all of them to our wedding.

This is great!

[Anonymous]

I worked in a small office. There were only three guys and they had my brothers' names (three very uncommon saint's names). it was so eerie

[Anonymous]

When I was an intern in DC, DH (dating at the time) and I went to happy hour with some of my fellow interns. DH and another intern's boyfriend had both gone to Arizona State. They got to talking and turned out they'd both lived in the same rental house, several years apart.

[Anonymous]

My father passed away. Soon after I found out I was pregnant with a baby that was due on what would have been his birthday...then I had a miscarriage on the first anniversary of his death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was an intern in DC, DH (dating at the time) and I went to happy hour with some of my fellow interns. DH and another intern's boyfriend had both gone to Arizona State. They got to talking and turned out they'd both lived in the same rental house, several years apart.

I have a similar one — I was at a work event years ago and my husband and my colleague figured out that they had lived in the same rental house for law school, a year or two apart.

My own is that the summer before my junior year of college I randomly met a woman (in NJ) who went to college in Atlanta. She was dating a guy in NY, and we went into the city and I met him. That fall, back at school, I met a fellow student at my college, who was also from NY. I must have known enough about friend A’s BF to know there might be a connection, so asked friend B if she knew the guy. She had dated/was dating (I’ve never been sure which and never wanted to ask) the same guy.