Whether or not you believe in fate, you can’t deny that luck is certainly a factor in our lives. There are moments when the universe seems to line up perfectly, to serve up some extremely rare coincidences that you’ll likely be talking about even years later. These coincidences can be both good, bad, or (most likely) a mix of both. But it’s how we react to these events that truly matters.The online community on Quora had a lot of fun recounting their“one-in-a-million” coincidencesthat completely shocked them at the time. We’ve collected some of their most interesting stories to share with you, Pandas. Scroll down to check them out.Bored Pandawanted to find out how people can come to terms with how many things are outside of their control and based on luck, so we reached out toMax Alberhasky, Ph.D.He is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at California State University Long Beach and the host of the‘Psychology, Money, and Happiness’blog on Psychology Today. Alberhasky was kind enough to answer our questions. You’ll find our interview with him as you read on.This post may includeaffiliate links.
Whether or not you believe in fate, you can’t deny that luck is certainly a factor in our lives. There are moments when the universe seems to line up perfectly, to serve up some extremely rare coincidences that you’ll likely be talking about even years later. These coincidences can be both good, bad, or (most likely) a mix of both. But it’s how we react to these events that truly matters.
The online community on Quora had a lot of fun recounting their“one-in-a-million” coincidencesthat completely shocked them at the time. We’ve collected some of their most interesting stories to share with you, Pandas. Scroll down to check them out.
Bored Pandawanted to find out how people can come to terms with how many things are outside of their control and based on luck, so we reached out toMax Alberhasky, Ph.D.He is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at California State University Long Beach and the host of the‘Psychology, Money, and Happiness’blog on Psychology Today. Alberhasky was kind enough to answer our questions. You’ll find our interview with him as you read on.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
This is a picture of an almost 2 year old me and an almost 5 year old little boy who grabbed my hand in line waiting to see Santa, because I was scared (as my mom explained).I was flipping through photo albums about 20 years later, and thought: gee he looks familar. I was in a relationship with a young man named Chris who looked like he could be that boy, we grew up in the same town. I showed the pic to him and his mom, and sure enough, it was him! 17 more years, and 2 kids later, still going strong!
“It’s true, there are some circumstances in life that feel out of our control. Even when we put our best foot forward, sometimes we don’t get into our dream college, get the job we interviewed for, or have our lottery ticket number hit. While of course, this can be upsetting in the short term, there is also some good news,“Professor Alberhaskytold Bored Panda via email.“Happiness expertSonja Lyubomirsky, a psychologist at UC Riverside, found that when it comes to happiness, around 50% is genetic, 10% is based on life circumstances (i.e., things that happen to us), and 40% comes from how we interpret our thoughts and circumstances,” the host of the‘Psychology, Money, and Happiness’blog shared.
“It’s true, there are some circumstances in life that feel out of our control. Even when we put our best foot forward, sometimes we don’t get into our dream college, get the job we interviewed for, or have our lottery ticket number hit. While of course, this can be upsetting in the short term, there is also some good news,“Professor Alberhaskytold Bored Panda via email.
“Happiness expertSonja Lyubomirsky, a psychologist at UC Riverside, found that when it comes to happiness, around 50% is genetic, 10% is based on life circumstances (i.e., things that happen to us), and 40% comes from how we interpret our thoughts and circumstances,” the host of the‘Psychology, Money, and Happiness’blog shared.
Not me, my mother. She is Cuban and when she was on her first year of teaching, she was teaching first grade and had a kid that was held back. The teachers called him a bad kid. He found it hard to sit down and pay attention, so he still could not read. My mother made him her “helper” and whenever there was free time she would sit alone with him to go over lessons. He passed first grade and actually did great!Later on, after the Castro regime took control, my mother left Cuba. She met my father, had children, and moved on with her life.Years later we were traveling in Florida and a man and his wife came up to her. It was the student! He said he recognized her right away because he never forgot her. He introduced her to his wife as the teacher that did not give up on him.She is my inspiration!
I’m a stand-up comedian. A few years into my career (back when I still had a day job) I did a fifteen minute performance at an arts festival. I’d never done as long as fifteen minutes before. It was crowded backstage- singers, dance troupes, etc.- and they just got us when it was our time to go on stage. In front of maybe 30 people, no reaction. I knew my jokes weren’t terrible, but it was like performing for people who didn’t speak English. After maybe 8 or 9 minutes at least a couple of smiles. By the end I’d gotten a few laughs. Went home very unhappy- this was the worst set of my life. You expect to bomb when you’re new but I was a few years in. The next day, during my lunch break, I was in a store. A guy came over and said “You were very funny last night.” I said I was a comedian but clearly I was not funny. He said “Did you know what you followed?” I explained that I had no idea because we were secluded backstage. He said the person before me told the true story about how she was forced into an arranged marriage as a child and was beaten and r*ped every day for years until she managed to escape. He explained that the audience was crying. That it took some time but I cheered them up. There are 8 million people in NYC. There were maybe 30 at the show, and one of them was in the same place as I was, and recognized me, and decided to talk to me.
“This finding reminds me of an ancient Roman concept called stoicism, which says we do best to work hard on outcomes we have control over and to ignore outcomes which are outside of our control. Of course, this is easier said than done! While it’s a fact certain things that impact our lives are simply out of our control and can make us elated or disappointed in the short term, humans are remarkably good at adapting to circumstances and synthesizing happiness.“Alberhaskygave us an example. For instance, we might be upset in the moment when we don’t get the job that we wanted. However, a couple of years later, we might hold the opinion that the particular job we once craved might not have been a good fit for us, and that everything happens for a reason.In the meantime, Bored Panda asked the marketing professor about the main things to focus on in order to lead a happy life, no matter how (un)lucky they might be.“Time and time again, researchers find that the silver bullet to happiness comes from our social relationships. Our families, romantic partners, children, and friends are the sources that make our lives rich and meaningful,” Alberhasky said.
“This finding reminds me of an ancient Roman concept called stoicism, which says we do best to work hard on outcomes we have control over and to ignore outcomes which are outside of our control. Of course, this is easier said than done! While it’s a fact certain things that impact our lives are simply out of our control and can make us elated or disappointed in the short term, humans are remarkably good at adapting to circumstances and synthesizing happiness.”
Alberhaskygave us an example. For instance, we might be upset in the moment when we don’t get the job that we wanted. However, a couple of years later, we might hold the opinion that the particular job we once craved might not have been a good fit for us, and that everything happens for a reason.
In the meantime, Bored Panda asked the marketing professor about the main things to focus on in order to lead a happy life, no matter how (un)lucky they might be.
“Time and time again, researchers find that the silver bullet to happiness comes from our social relationships. Our families, romantic partners, children, and friends are the sources that make our lives rich and meaningful,” Alberhasky said.
When my wife to be and I started going out together many many years ago, there was a popular song that became our song, and over the years we would close dance to it whenever we heard it. and we always played it on our special occasions.She recently became seriously ill and was on that path of no return. When she did pass away in hospital in the small hours of the morning, our song played on the radio which we had playing softly in the corner of her room. Incredibly moving.Incredible coincidence?
I was driving to California from Washington state and I got into an accident in Shaniko, Oregon, which is a tiny ghost town. At that time the population was 17. When I “crash landed” a woman came out to greet me (she hugged the daylights out of me because I was alive). Four guys immediately appeared with tools and instantly removed my tires, taking them to their shop to repair. The car had to be pulled out of the ditch it was in. There was a man they called George who was building a house. He conveniently had a crane! Problem solved. The car was towed to the house of a 15-year-old boy who was currently enrolled in auto-mechanic school. He found the only major issue with my car. A hole in the radiator. That very week in school he had learned to fix those! Problem solved….almost. He said that he knew how to fix it, but that he needed a special kind of metal solder to do it. Something he didn’t have, but was common with plumbers. But….wait for it….there was a plumber who lived in town. His neighbor, in fact. Problem solved!!That afternoon I was given a full tour of the town. The kid—that mechanic—wanted me to see the inside of the storage shed filled with vintage cars. He also took me inside the giant barn where the sheep had been sheared for their wool. I got to see the inside of the tiny original jail with two cells and then he took me over to the hotel with the wooden Indian out front. He was quite proud of growing up there and it was an amazing discovery for me. This town fed me, put me up for the night, fixed my car, and never accepted a dime from me. The next day, when I left, was Easter Sunday.
“This exercise helps put special moments with others into perspective, making us more grateful for them. Gratitude is a special ingredient when it comes to being happy and appreciating the special moments and relationships we have. Even if the wind doesn’t blow your way with a one-in-a-million opportunity, consider being grateful for the one-in-a-million special relationships in your life.”
My wife and I were living in our first house in Oklahoma City. One day while we were both at work, the city sewer department tore down all the fences in the rear of the houses on our block to replace the sewer main. When we got home from work we were heartbroken because we had had our young dog in the backyard and now he was nowhere to be found. We searched the area for days and put up notices but to no avail.We were starting to believe that we would never see our dog again. My wife was so upset she decided to call the city to “give them a piece of her mind” about the lack of notification on the sewer work causing us to lose our dog.So she gets a person on the phone from the city’s Ombudsman Department. My wife explains the situation and tells the person that we loved that dog and had paid good money for him because he was a registered Irish setter. The person asks where we live and my wife gives our address. The person says “Well that’s amazing. I live about a half mile from you and there’s been an Irish setter hanging around lately.” My wife tells me the address and when I got to the person’s house, there’s our dog.Oklahoma City is a big metropolitan area. Of all the people in the metro area my wife might have got on the phone, our dog happened to be at that person’s house.
The paradox is that even though some events are super rare, they actually tend to happen all the time.As Bloomberg points out, a lot depends on how strictly or loosely you define the terms of the coincidence. The more you “relax the definition” of something, the more you increase the odds of it happening once, twice, or more.For example, someone winning the grand prize in a lottery is a huge deal, and it’s a rare occurrence for one lucky person. However, someone still needs to win the prize (eventually). Statistically speaking, for the group of people who decide to buy lottery tickets, it’s an inevitability. Even if nobody wins the top prize this week or month, it’ll happen sooner or later.
The paradox is that even though some events are super rare, they actually tend to happen all the time.As Bloomberg points out, a lot depends on how strictly or loosely you define the terms of the coincidence. The more you “relax the definition” of something, the more you increase the odds of it happening once, twice, or more.
For example, someone winning the grand prize in a lottery is a huge deal, and it’s a rare occurrence for one lucky person. However, someone still needs to win the prize (eventually). Statistically speaking, for the group of people who decide to buy lottery tickets, it’s an inevitability. Even if nobody wins the top prize this week or month, it’ll happen sooner or later.
Dr. Phung Van Hanh of Montreal, Canada, and formerly of Danang, Vietnam, was visiting my mother in Wichita KS. We went out to a Vietnamese restaurant in town for a dinner with us, him, and some of her friends.Dr. Hanh had got in trouble with the Communists after they won the war, and was sent to their Gulag. Somehow or other he survived and wound up in Canada. His connection to my family was that my Dad had worked with him for a month during the Tet offensive, in a hospital in Danang. We’d kept in touch off and on after that.So here we are at the restaurant. It’s a nice, family-owned place. After the party had ordered and the food had arrived, the proprietor came out to greet the party. He looks at Dr. Hanh, their glances lock, Dr. Hanh, with some difficulty because of his age, gets to his feet, and they embrace.They had been inmates and friends in the same death camp in Vietnam.
At the age of 12 I met a new girl at school who had the same birthday as me. No big deal. Then…Born in the same state,same city,same hospital,same floor,two doors down and15 minutes apart from me.We were born in HawaiiAnd we met in a tiny unincorporated town in Louisiana.
On top of that, let’s consider the idea of winning multiple lotteries. Winning the top prize twice or even more is an even rarer coincidence. But if we change our parameters a bit, we can greatly increase the chances of this happening.For instance, let’s say that the person doesn’t have to win the top prize twice; they only need to win something (anything) twice. Suddenly, the coincidence becomes much more grounded. The odds are that many of you reading this have won some sort of minor prize if you’ve ever bought lottery tickets before.
On top of that, let’s consider the idea of winning multiple lotteries. Winning the top prize twice or even more is an even rarer coincidence. But if we change our parameters a bit, we can greatly increase the chances of this happening.
For instance, let’s say that the person doesn’t have to win the top prize twice; they only need to win something (anything) twice. Suddenly, the coincidence becomes much more grounded. The odds are that many of you reading this have won some sort of minor prize if you’ve ever bought lottery tickets before.
My daughter moved into a flat which needed a lot of work. On the first day there her best friend and her sister came over and together we ripped up the carpets. Underneath the carpets and underlay the floor had been lined with old newspapers and in the hallway was an old local newspaper and facing us was a photo of the two sisters in a dance competition when they were children!
This was probably 15 years ago - A newly married young couple had just moved in across the street from me. Shortly after that he was deployed overseas. Not long after he was deployed an older couple moved into the house behind them, and his wife got to know them quite well. After her husband returned the four of them got together and after some talking, they came to realize that he was their son! They had given him up for adoption when he was born in California and had just decided to move to Utah, some 25 years later. One in a million coincidence, moved to be neighbors with their son!
I was in a big steakhouse in California about 30 years ago. The waitress, like many Americans, liked our Brit accent and happened to say their head chef was from England. Thought nothing of it because England is quite a big place with a lot of people . About an hour later as we were finishing up our desserts , the chef came out.Conversation went something like this.CHEF: I heard your accents and had to come out because you sound like you are from Essex.ME: Yes all four of us are. We are from Southend on Sea. ( A very famous large Essex town recognised around the UK).CHEF: Really. That’s where I’m from. Actually Shoeburyness just outside Southend.ME: Really! I lived there for 12 years,after I was born.CHEF: Do you know West Road. I ran the Chippy ( fish and chip shop) there for 10 years between ’71 and ‘81.ME: You’ve got to be joking. I used to come in your shop the last Friday of every month with my brother and my parents to get fish and chips.What are the chances of that???
That’s not to say that we can’t be in awe when we get lucky or some fortunate coincidence pops up in our lives. Quite the contrary: it’s essential that we embrace these events and feel grateful that they happened.On the flip side, if something bad has happened to us, we shouldn’t shy away from the negative feelings that spring up. We have to embrace them, even though it’s uncomfortable. Otherwise, our negative feelings can enroot themselves and turn to deep-seated shame, fear, and guilt. And working through those may require months or even years of therapy.
That’s not to say that we can’t be in awe when we get lucky or some fortunate coincidence pops up in our lives. Quite the contrary: it’s essential that we embrace these events and feel grateful that they happened.
On the flip side, if something bad has happened to us, we shouldn’t shy away from the negative feelings that spring up. We have to embrace them, even though it’s uncomfortable. Otherwise, our negative feelings can enroot themselves and turn to deep-seated shame, fear, and guilt. And working through those may require months or even years of therapy.
When my kids were little in Vancouver Canada, one of my oldest boy’s best friends was a kid called Sepand. They did a lot together in daycare and then kindergarten. When he was seven, we took a family trip to Montreal on summer where one of the big events is the Jazz Festival. Hundreds of shows and a few dozen free shows every night with literally tens of thousands on the streets for those shows. In the middle of that crowd, my boy pipes up with “Hey Sepand!” and sure enough there is Sepand and his family, very randomly in exactly the same spot three thousand miles from home. Big laugh, hugs and handshakes and we go on our way.Two years later, another summer vacation, this time in California. We visit old friends in the Bay Area and decide to drive down to the Monterey peninsula for the day. Of course we have to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of the great aquariums of the world. We go to the stingray tank where kids can actually reach in and play with the stingrays and we hear “Hey Sepand!” Once again, a thousand miles from home, Sepand and his family are in exactly the same place at the same time.
Back in 1998 I got my mother-in-law a copy of Pete Hamill’s “Snow in August” for a Mother’s Day gift. I wrote a little note to her on the fly leaf. Years later her daughter, my wife died and my MIL had to leave her home out of state to go into a long term care facility. She herself died almost ten years after my wife.in 2016 I was making dump run to my little towns transfer station. I stopped into the Put and Take shed to see what treasures my neighbors had decided to part with. There’s a separate shed just for books and that’s where I headed. After a few minutes I spotted a copy of “Snow in August”. It was a bit beat up but I grabbed it and found my little note to my MIL on the fly leaf.I wonder how many hands it went through to find it’s way back to me.
It was summer of 2011. My husband and I were at the beach on the Jersey shore. My eldest son was on his honeymoon in Hawaii. His shiny new Audi was in New York with my youngest son who with permission took the carto take out his then GIRLFRIEND (now wife). Being the gentleman who l raised , he proceeded to walk her to her door. Being the dumb**s that his Father raised, he left the car open with the keys in the ignition. Well, guess what happened next. Two guys jumped in and stole the shiny new Audi. We get the phone call while at the beach, not a little pissed, because like what’s gonna happen now? Can’t call the honeymooners , because how would that help ? Can’t call the insurance company because he left the keys in the ignition. So embarrassing to make the police report, but we did it. Dejected, we decide to come home early to Brooklyn and be miserable. We pack up and make our way back home. It’s like an hour ride. A very long hour with two very long faces, pick up the police report. OK. So you made it this far in the story. You deserve to hear the CRAZY part. We on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, both at the same, we see the shiny Audi. Yup, my sons car. (We knew the plate no.) We’re kind of freaking out at this point. We start following the car. We call the cops. The cops box in the stolen car, and the officer has the audacity to tell me there’s no report!! As l am feeling like knocking her out (l didn’t ), l pull out the police report and wave it in the officers face. At the exact moment. The bluetooth connects to the car. The perps get BUSTED.
Gratitude improvesour lives and has been associated with our emotional, social, and psychological well-being. Not only that, but gratitude has a knock-on effect: people who feel grateful strive to extend their help to other people. Kindness, generosity, and altruism have a tendency to spread.
This is more than 40 years ago now but I still tell it: So there i was at university with my girlfriend. She shared a room with a girl called Siobhan. Got chatting. Where are you from, where are your parents from?Manchester. Oh, so are mine.Where in Manchester. Prestwich. Gosh my father was from Prestwich too.Where exactly? Canterbury drive. Wow, Your father must have known mine. He lived on Canterbury drive too.So I ring my mum. (my father died when I was very young). Did you know xxxx? Oh yes he was our best man!And you know what? Siobhan was our chief bridesmaid. And she and my wife are still in touch 40 years on.
Some years ago, I spent a summer working for a law firm. My job involved calling and interviewing plaintiffs in a class action suit that they were working on. I had a list of names and telephone numbers, and a list of questions to ask. I would call, as for “Joe Anderson” or whomever, then spend half an hour or so interviewing Mr. Anderson about his claim.One of the phone numbers on the list was for a woman in Georgia (I am not from Georgia). I called the number. But I accidentally transposed two digits when I dialed - instead of dialing 555–1234 I dialed 555 -1324 or something like that.A voice answered the phone.I said “May I please speak to Sylvia Podunk?” (or whatever the name was)There was a pause on the other end of the line.The person on the other end said “would you please repeat that?”I said “Of course - may I please speak to Sylvia Podunk?”The voice said “ Is this Mark McCain?”I had accidentally dialed a girl that I had dated in high school about 10 years before. I had lost touch with her after graduation. She was now living in Georgia. When I accidentally dialed her number, she recognized my voice over the phone and realized it was me!
I was in NY 1979 with my brother. There was a guy about same age as me with a BMW motorcycle same limited edition 1000cc model that I had in London UK.I spoke to him about bike and told him about my one. Got impression did not fully believe me about owning one same model.A few months later whilst riding my one in London UK, I saw him on holiday with friends about to cross the street. Said Hi remember me NY we talked about your bike same as this one. Nice to see you again. He looked double shocked one about bike, and two seeing me again riding it 6000 miles away! Had a few words then off I rode, never saw him again as no reason to exchange numbers. Odds against that must have been on par with winning lottery!
My brother had this happen. He and his family were on a road trip and their car broke down. They were close enough to a gas station to push it there. There was a man there asking for gas money. My brother gave it to him and the man turned out to be a mechanic and fixed my brother’s car at no charge.
We’d got a new rescue dog. Got her as a pup. Approximately 6 months later, we’d gone on a day trip to the coast. Stopped at lunchtime at a little village pub that had outside tables. I got us a couple of drinks, snacks etc and we sat at one of the tables. Got talking to a couple at the next table with a young dog who seemed about the same age as ours. It only turned out that they had got their dog from the same rescue centre and both dogs were actually brother and sister from the same litter. Not only that, they actually lived close to us.
I joined the Army at 19, my first assignment was Frankfurt/Main, Germany. First time there. About a month after being barracks bound. I decided to go down town. A beautiful sunny day. This was 1965. The young woman in summer dresses. I saw this beautiful brunette and I winked at her and she winked back. Long story short we dated and married, We were married for 54 years. About 10 years ago I took an interest in Ancestry DNA. I researched my family. My mother’s mother was German and her name was Reese. I only had the tip of the iceberg on their information. At one point I decided to look into my wife’s ancestry. Her grandfather’s family name was Weingarth and he was from Kusel, a small village in Germany with a population less than 1,000. Later I obtained additional information on great grandmother Reese. In the middle of the 1700’s, information showed that the family came from the village of Kusel also, in fact the name Weingarth was part of the family. So, in a country of 80 million, what is the chance I would meet and marry someone from my family tree.
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I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay area for about 30 years. My wife and I made reservations to stay at a little B&B on East Brother Light station, a tiny island with a lighthouse in the San Francisco Bay, near Richmond, that has a small house that can take about ten guests. All the guests eat together at a communal dining table.At dinner time, after the most basic introductions, people were describing where they were from. One guy said he was from New Jersey and Western Massachusetts. I said that I had spent a couple of college summers near Pittsfield, Mass. He asked for details. I told him I was a counselor at YMCA Camp Becket. He started singing the camp theme song, and I joined in. We found out we knew some people in common. He said he’d been a camper one of the years I had been a counselor. He asked me to repeat my name. It turns out I had been his counselor, for four weeks one summer, about forty years ago! I had been a counselor for two years, each year with two sessions, each session with eight campers. There are 32 people in the world that had been my kids at camp, and one of them was among the ten people that spent the night on this island, forty years later!It gets better. We found out that since our last meeting, we had both spent time doing habitat restoration in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, working under the same park rangers. And we had both married Venezuelans.
2 years ago on Christmas Eve I had to go to the judicial building to get a copy of my child custody papers as I had misplaced mine. It was 8 am and I was ready to go but then my friend showed up and started talking to me, I kept saying that I had to go but the conversation kept going on somehow? An hour and a half later we finally concluded our discussion and I was off the get my papers, upset that I was running behind as well!As I was walking up the steps to the building I saw a man with white hair walking away from the building, his entire back was facing me but I just knew it was my dad whom I hadn’t seen in at least 5 years! My dad lives on the streets and is homeless, he lost all of his family! My grandmother grandfather and his brother had all passed away and he has no one but me, so I yelled dad, dad, he didn’t turn around then I said Adolf and he turned right around, it was him! We ran to each other embraced one another in a big hug! We spent Christmas Eve together that day! It was a Christmas miracle! If my friend had not come to my house that morning and stood taking to me I would have never run into my dad at that specific moment in time! It was great!
My wife and I were on holidays in a small seaside town south of Sydney, Australia.We were just walking around and ended up in a side street quite some distance from the main shops.We spotted a sign about handmade soaps and walked up the driveway of a small cottage to a garage at the back of the property.My wife was looking around the various offerings. Me being the dutiful husband, I tagged along.We were the only customers.Understandable in such an out of the way location.After a while, I spied another couple entering.I recognised the woman immediately.My wife still hadn’t noticed them.I forget what witty comment I made get wife’s attention to focus on them, but then all hell broke loose.You see, the woman was a girl we had gone to high school with, and had last seen over 10 years before.The woman, her sister and my wife had been good friends.The coincidence?The woman had moved to South Africa to live where her husband worked.They had just visited his parents in Melbourne (look it up) and were driving on to Sydney to see her parents.They had stopped in the town for one of their rest breaks and to stretch their legs, as it’s a 9 hour drive from Melbourne and they had a final 2 hours to go.The chances of the four of us being in this obscure little place at exactly the same time must be more than a million to one.P.S. If you see this answer in a shared space, please upvote the original post.
My husband and I were shopping at new Hope Pennsylvania in 1995. He really wanted a leather duster but since we were going on vacation soon we asked if we could put it on layaway. The young man sales clerk looked skeptical but said OK as long as we came back in a month to get it. I don’t think he believed we were actually going on vacation.so we crossed the country on the motorcycle and got to the Yellowstone national Park sign where of course we wanted to take pictures. A family was just getting out of a minivan so we went up to them to ask if they would take our picture. Wouldn’t you know it one of the kids in the van was our sales clerk! I guess he believed us then lol!
When I was 14, my dad took the family on a camping vacation to Yellowstone National Park. The afternoon we arrived at the campground, we had set up our tent and were starting to cook supper when we heard yelling from the neighboring campsite.The person yelling turned out to be my high school science teacher. That’s the first one-in-a-million thing.The second one-in-a-million thing: the reason he was yelling was because he had just found one of the rarest of US pennies, a 1909 S VDB, among some change. A holy grail for a numismatist.Very cool, very unlikely, but true!
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Years ago I was stationed at RAF Odiham in Hampshire and on a whim I decided to travel to London for the day. At about 17:00 I found myself standing outside HMV in Leicester Square when who should step out the door but my father this is in a city of eight million people (at the time he did a lot of work in London).We were both surprised to see each other (understatement) I asked my father what are you doing here?? as the family home was in Hertfordshire some distance north of London. Apparently, Mother was on a coach trip with her friends and was in London to see The King and I so he thought he would surprise her and take Mum for a meal after the show.We both then went to the theatre to welcome Mum off the coach her face was a picture.
Long time ago when I was young, I used to chat in the chatrooms. One day, I met a senior from my college, who was doing his postdoc in Switzerland. Incidentally he and I have the same first name. We often used to chat about studies, his life there, his Swiss Girlfriend. Anyway couple of months after that, I am returning from US to India and I meet this guy on flight and we started talking. He asked me what is my major. I said geology. He said wow my elder brother is also a geologist. Then he asks me which college, I said Presidency College. He says same for my brother. He is two years senior to me and his name is same as mine. Suddenly it struck me. I asked is your brother doing postdoc in Switzerland. He said, how do you know that. I have been chatting with his brother and happen to meet him on a flight back to India. What are the odds? We had a good flight home chatting all the way from US to India. That was a million to one chance.
I went to Japan on business when working for a company some years ago. I had never been there before and apart from the work I was doing, my hosts took me to various places for sightseeing. One weekend we took the bullet train to Kyoto. We were out that evening heading for a restaurant, when I suddenly heard the sound of British folk music! I recognised the singing. As we came around the corner, I saw friends from my local folk club in Oxford standing there busking - and doing pretty well from the look of their rather full hat on the ground. We stared at one another and then laughed. “Wanna join in?” they asked. “Sure!” said I, and I joined them for one song that we knew and could perform - which went down well with the audience, and also my hosts, who thought me pretty versatile. So I went thousands of miles from the UK, only to bump into a folk band I used to see just down the road from where I lived!
Back in February of 2013. I was in a high-speed rollover in which my younger brother was killed.A few weeks later, I’m in a different town. And like alot of people do when dealing with trauma and loss, I was at a bar going to drown my pain. I see this woman who keeps glancing my direction. After a few minutes, she approached me, and starts with the banal small talk. What bring you here…where you from. And I start telling her what’s going on, mind you, I had crutches with me. So I started explaining them.After filling her in (as much as I was willing to share at that point) She looks at me, and expresses her condolences on my loss.She asked when this happend. I told her it was only a few weeks ago. (hence the crutches) After hearing the exact date, her eyes change. They went from gentle, curious eyes, to a look of confusion, or shock. She pauses, looks up to the sky, mumbles a few words, as if in prayer. She then reaches into her purse, and pulls out a white ,folded paper. Not saying a word, she slides it on the table in my direction. I pick it off the table, flip it over, and see a picture of a young man, but it had a ..(excuse my ignorance) start date and end date??Anyways, the paper I was reading, was the memorial of her younger brother. Although the first dates were different. The second dates, were the same day. Of the same year. Feb. 02/2013.This woman had lost her brother in a car accident. (I’m not sure where) on the same day as I lost mine. She was in the same town, in the same bar, doing the same thing I was. For the exact same reason!
I was in high school and this new girl that I did not know walked up to me. She knew my name (no biggie), but she knew a lot about the small elementary school I had gone to which was about 100 miles away. I had no idea who she was until she started singing this song she had sung in 3rd grade in our school’s talent show. I immediately knew who she was. I think I shouted her full name and gave her a hug I did not know her that well in elementary school, but it was incredible to run into her again.
Many years ago, I was traveling on a train in Europe. I was in a ‘cabin’ for 6 with three other people. My then-girlfriend (now wife of nearly 33 years) and a couple from New York (that is important). I’m from California, so in Europe it feels like you are next door neighbors - even with someone from across the country. We got to talking and the woman from New York said she worked in theater off-Broadway. I asked if she’d gone to school. She had — at Northwestern. Hmmm, my sister went to Northwestern to study theater. So I asked. As I mentioned my sister’s very unique first name, the woman from New York gave me my sister’s last name. WOW!
My first or second year in private practice, I decided to attend a minimally invasive surgery conference in Las Vegas.After a day of lectures, I was sitting at a blackjack table, and a group of men sat down with me. They started talking to me and bragging to me about their work which involved research at a very tiny biotech start up in Memphis.I listened for a bit then I started asking them specific questions about other people who worked there. They were very confused.Eight years previously I spent the summer between my first and second years in medical school (the last Summer break of my life) at that same tiny bio tech lab modifying an agricultural virus to target glioblastoma tumors.Small world.
In 1995 I visited my husband for a month in Viet Nam. He was on a job there for a year. While I was there, I met a man named Mr Tien. Upon coming home , I had a one in a million coincidence happen. I was getting my nails done in a shop that I had never used before. I asked one of the women in the shop if she was Vietnamese. She said she was and came from DaNang . I asked her if she was familiar with the Non Nouc Seaside Resort. Her eyes got big and said yes and that she had her wedding there and allso stating that her husband worked there. I asked her if he knew Mr Tien. She was so surprised with me saying his name and exclaimed…My husband and Mr. Tien are very good friends. So here I was in NC in a nail shop finding a woman who knew someone I knew. That 6 degrees of separation is real.
In 1972&’73 I was in the navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor. Myself and 3 others from my ship rented an apartment in Waikiki, on the Ala Wai canal near the Int’l Marketplace. We had some buddies from another ship in our squadron living about half a block away. We partied together virtually daily, went to concerts, and went to other islands together. Pretty tight buds.We all got out of the navy in ’73-’75 and went our separate ways. I went to Palm Springs CA and then on to college in Oregon, even though I was from the Mid-West. In ’75 at spring break, my girlfriend said she wanted to go to Seattle (Renton) because her cousin was getting married there in June, and she was to be the maid of honor.Off we went to Renton. On arriving, we found her house, and went up to knock. Her fiancée answered the door. It was Doug, one of my good buds from Hawaii! I yelled Doug, he yelled Jim. The girls just stared at us , shocked that we knew one another. We were as shocked as they were. The party began immediately and continued again in June at the wedding.
Years ago, a high school I went to as a freshman was converted to apartments, then to condos.About 10 years ago I was travelling in Europe as a retirement present to myself, and in France, overheard some people from my city talking. I joined them and it turned out that one of them had a son who lived in one of those condos.So far, so good—the usual small world.A few days later I was in another town, in Germany, where I ate at a restaurant that had people all sitting at a communal table. I told my small world story. The guy across from me turned out to have been the head carpenter on the conversion of the high school to condos.The small world got really, really smaller.
When I was in college, I took a Shakespeare class with around one hundred other students. There was a girl, I never spoke to her or knew her, roughly three desks to my right, one row forward.Several years later I traveled to Greece on a train, randomly, with no prior planning, just working my way across Europe.Once in Athens, I wandered around until I found a small neighborhood and walked into a restaurant, sat down and ordered.That girl was three tables to my right, on row forward. I didn’t even greet her, as I didn’t know her at all. I just thought it was trippy.
My story is completely ridiculous and I wouldn’t believe it if it hadn’t happened to me.Around 1990 I was driving a taxicab in Philadelphia, I caught a long fare from Bucks county, Pa. to a hotel south of the Philadelphia international airport, it’s about a 40 mile shot directly down I-95. I dropped them, then as I was leaving the parking lot, my front passenger-side wheel broke off. A seized bearing burned through the spindle.Fast-forward to 2006, I’m driving a limo and I get passengers going to that same hotel, I dropped them, and when I exited the parking lot, my front passenger-side wheel fell off, in the exact same spot.I’ve never had a wheel fall off in 30yrs driving cabs… except these two times. But in the same place, it’s crazy.
I was in Paris one summer. I had spent a summer session studying in Europe and was in line at a cafeteria. I was wearing an Indiana University sweatshirt. An American couple in line asked me if I really went to IU. I said yes, and they told me that they were from Anderson, IN, my hometown. It turns out I had gone to high school with their son.
In 1989 I went to Asia for a 14 day business trip, flew First Class on United’s Royal Pacific service including Singapore Air, the best airline in the world for comfort. After 14 days my business partner and I got on the big ole 747 for the ride back. I was seated in the very first seat; he was a couple of rows behind me, which was good because after 2 weeks together I was pretty sick of him even though we were good friends. While I was settling in with my mimosa, the flight attendant comes up and says, “Mr Bazzinotti, can you exchange seats with this handicapped man?” and there was a guy in a wheelchair. And I said, “No, I paid for this seat and I am not sitting 12 hours in Coach.” and she said, “No, it’s the seat right behind this one. The front row just has more legroom.” So I did. I slid into the window seat in the next row in my big lounger seat and settled in. Then the guy next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Did she call you Bazzinotti?” and I said, “Ya, what of it?” because I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. And then he said, “My name is Bazzinotti.” And I looked at him. I didn’t know him and I knew pretty much everyone in the massive Bazzinotti clan. He took out his passport and showed me. It turns out he was a cousin who had spent the last 20 years in Thailand. I had never met him.(There’s a second part to this story my dad told me later; he had stolen money from the mob in Boston and moved to Thailand to escape them and it was his first trip back. Within three days of his return they found him dead in the Fells. The police said he killed himself while jogging in the woods. In street shoes. Ya sure.)
About 10 years ago I went to Turkey on holiday. I thought it would be a good idea to go on at least one day trip while I was there so I went into one of the places where you could book a trip.The man who ran it spoke really good English, his daughter, who was about 12 did too, so we got chatting. I complimented him on his excellent English and he told me he’d lived in the UK for 12 years.Of course I asked him where.“Oh just a little place you’ve probably never heard of - Chester”(I’m from Chester)It turns out that he ran a chippie 2 miles away from my house.😏I don’t know what it is about chip shops, but 15 years prior to that my mother had been on holiday in Cyprus and had taken a bus way up into the hills and chatted to the owner of the little cafe where she stopped for a drink - it turns out that he had run a chippie in Ellesmere Port, right next to the school I was working in at the time.
There was a senior at my previous company who used to work on the same project inside the same ODC. He was three years elder than me. However, since we were in different teams, we didn’t get a chance to interact with each other much except for a brief Hi and Hello.In 2020, I left the company and joined Copado, my present employer. In 2021, coincidentally, he also left the company and joined Copado. Again, since we were in different teams, we didn’t talk much and, as we are working from home, I never met him after leaving the previous company.Today, we have a team event in Jaipur and many employees from different parts of the country will be assembling under the same roof to participate in that event. After landing at Jaipur airport, I was standing near the baggage claim belt waiting for my bag to arrive and just on the adjacent baggage claim belt, I noticed a familiar face. I walked up to him to see it was that senior of mine from my previous company!We were on different flights — he was flying from Kolkata while I flew from New Delhi, but our flights landed almost around the same time in Jaipur and luck had it that we met at the airport! But that’s not all. We have our flight back tomorrow and we are on the same flight. Nothing of this was pre-planned! This is the ultimate level of co-incidence that I have ever experienced for sure.
I was in Mallorca. We have a boat there. I remained on board whilst my wife took the children to the beach.The kids met some other kids. She met the parents. Rather trustingly she then bought the kids back to our boat for the trip back to Palma whilst the parents drove back.We become good friends.Their parents had a house in the middle of the island and we went over for dinner.The parents were there and we got talking. They were from Leeds which is where my mother was from.it turned out her brother David ( now dead) was his best friend at school and he knew my mother well ( mum is also dead ).I found this firstly very interesting and secondly one in a million that the parents of some random people we met on a beach knew my mother and uncle.
Thirty years ago my friend and I did our junior year abroad in England. During the spring break, we toured Europe including a stop in Greece.We were on the overnight ferry from Greece to Italy in March. It was cold and like many American college tourists, we could not afford a room on the boat. We were stuck outside on the deck.We met a few American girls who needed refuge from the cold and from some deckhands who offered them rooms in exchange for some special favors. Somewhere there was a picture of 7 of us huddled on a bench covered in blankets.Fast forward a year and a half.I went to dinner with my girlfriend in NJ. Our waitress walked up to the table and I ask, “were you on a ferry from Greece to Italy last spring?”Indeed she had been and was amazed that I had remembered her.
I met my future ex-wife at a six-day conference. We hit it off right away. She had to leave a day early, so I saw her into the airport shuttle and went back to the talks.A few hours later, I looked up and there she was! Her flight had gotten canceled so she came back.We decided to skip the last talk and go to a restaurant together. We went to her rent-a-car, got in, she turned on the ignition, and the radio started playing…“One more night, give me just one more night!”There aren’t literally a million songs that could have played instead, but it was also the perfect point in the song. So it might actually be a one in a million coincidence.[Edited to add: There’s more than 2 million seconds in a month. A random coincidence can happen at any time. So one might expect several one-in-a-million coincidences per year - and of course, they’ll be a lot more memorable than the millions of seconds that don’t contain coincidences.]
We moved about 200 miles for a new job. A nice place in the new area was difficult to find at the time, but we eventually bought one in a road with only 18 houses.About ten years later I had to go back temporarily when my mother became ill. One evening I went to a pub for a meal, but it was dead quiet with only two couples in the bar. One couple were the licensees, the other their friends who lived next door, and this was the last night before selling the place. When I explained how I was stuck, they very decently made me a meal.Of course we chatted and they asked where I was from. It turned out that the neighbours had moved years before from the same road I was living in, and I passed their address to several of my new neighbours when I got back.
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Inga Korolkovaite
Linas Simonaitis
Viltė Domkutė
Curiosities
