What's your "amazing coincidence" story?

[chai]

I love these stories. I just had one this weekend.

 

Yesterday we went to Doors Open in Denver. This is a city-wide event with 80-plus buildings open to the public to tour. On the way to the event, dd asked if we were going to see anyone we knew. I replied that although there were some other people from our homeschool group going to it, it was highly unlikely that we would see any of them.

 

Anyway, the first building that we toured is the Daniels & Fischer clock tower. This building was erected in 1910 and was the tallest building west of NYC at that time. It is really beautiful, but small. It has one elevator that we took from the lobby to the eighth floor where we could get out and walk on the balcony that wraps around the building. We waited for our turn at the elevator which would only hold about 9 people. We were at the back; the elevator was almost full, but we encouraged two more women to get on. One of them looked familiar, but I didn’t think anything more of it. Later, when we were on the balcony, one of the women came up to us and exclaimed, “D & D, what are you doing here!â€

 

It was someone from our old home in MN who used to play on our softball team. She didn't know that we had moved to Denver last fall. She was in town for the weekend for the Frozen 4. And we just happened to walk into the same elevator! How crazy is that! So instead of a chance meeting with someone who lives in Denver, we ran into someone from MN!

 

I thought it was an amazing coincidence! What's your story?

 

 

[unsinkable]

I don't know what this is called:

 

When I was 3 years old, my dad was taking our neighbor, my brother and I for a fish fry. Our neighbor's wife, her mom and my mom were going to play bingo. My dad just got us bundled in the back seat of his new-to-him car when I started screaming for my mom. We all piled out and started for the backyard (my neighbor's mom lived behind her and they were walking through the backyards to go to the mom's house.)

 

We had just taken a few steps away from our car when another car came squealing around the corner of our street, drove a few yards, then smashed into the back of the car we just exited.

 

Our car was struck so hard that the bowling ball in the back of it flew out the windshield. Our car crashed into our neighbor's car which was parked in front of it.

 

If I hadn't wanted my mom, my brother and I likely would have been severely injured, if not killed.

 

The car that hit us was stolen and was driven by the thief.

 

cue haunting music

[angela in ohio]

Whn I met dh for the first time (in a country dancing/ bar place, *blush*,) we planned to meet there again a few days later. I didn't get to go back that night, and so missed seeing him. Not having exchanged info, I was miserable thinking I would never see him again. We did attend the same university, and a few days later, as I ran an errand to a building I never usually went to, I saw him outside and was able to catch up with him, and we made a date. :001_smile:

[langfam]

My amazing coincidence story:

 

I was born and raised in Singapore. In 1988, I met my husband, Jon, at a good friend's birthday party. Jon had just flown in from the United States and was staying with their family. At the party was another friend of mine, Bernice Wilson; we had gone to the same grade school and had known each other for years. Anyway, Bernice took my husband sight-seeing around town, but he chose me instead:). Months later, when I visited Jon in Fort Collins, CO, and was talking to his sister, she said to me that she'd only met one other Singaporean in her whole life, Bernice Wilson. Needless to say, our jaws dropped! It turned out that Bernice had also met Jon's younger brother briefly years earlier! It's a small world!!

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Dh, before he was dh but just dbf, his father, and I went on a trip out west to see the sights, visit his dad's family, and look at a grad. school in NM. We were going to go rafting one day in Colorado, but I got really sick and we ended up stopping there for a couple of days.

 

After going to the school in Santa Fe, we went up to a place outside of Taos to camp for a couple of days and hang out in that area. We decided to find a place to go rafting. There was this shack like place on the side of the road between Taos and Santa Fe in which you could go in to sign up for a rafting trip on the Rio. You parked across the highway in a gravel lot. There was nothing else around there, just the rafting shack sign up place.

 

We pulled into the lot and passed a car with a man standing beside it. He stared me down and I him. He looked similar to my uncle who lives in TN. We didn't see him very much and his weight went up and down a lot so he wasn't always easily recognizable. Plus the car had Texas plates.

 

I got out and kept staring anyway. He did the same. Neither of us spoke. I went up to the car, peeked in and saw my cousins in the back seat. We were still too dumbfounded to speak right away! Then my aunt came walking back towards us with her mouth hanging open.

 

That was really a coincidence! Met up with my family in the middle of nowhere without a single inkling that they were in that area, nor did they know I was traveling out there as well.

 

And furthermore, my now FIL ran into a former colleague on the top of Pike's Peak! We lived in KY at the time. I can't recall where the colleague was then. But those sure were a couple of crazy coincidences!

[daisychics]

Ohh, I want to share mine....:lurk5: (it's gonna be a long story)

 

About 12 years ago in California, I was sick and had to stay home (which was rare). My cousin who was visiting was sitting at my brother's computer and told me to try this I.R.C thing (it was a chat room - to this day I still don't know what it stands for). Anyways, I met a friend (who was also using his brother's computer for the first time) in Virginia and we became emailing/chat buddies for 6 months. One of our "chat" conversations he mentioned that he was going to the Philippines with his mom for vacation. I said "Wow, me too! When?" He told me June 2. I was going May 31st! So I said "Hey, give me your number there and see if we can hang out!"

We did. I met him and we instantly hit it off. On his last day, he wrote me a letter saying that he would miss me and really loved hanging out and that he liked me alot :001_wub:. I cried because I felt the same way.

Well he went back to Virginia in July 1997 and we had a long distance relationship (this was way back in the day where there were no cell phones only pagers, haha) Anyways, I visited him in September of '97, for a weekend. After that he moved to California, 2 months later, on

August 1, 1998 we got married. :D

 

This year is going to be our 10th anniversary.

[Catherine]

acquaintance from Rochester NY in a parking lot!! She was there for a conference and staying with friends.

[chai]

I don't know what this is called:

 

When I was 3 years old, my dad was taking our neighbor, my brother and I for a fish fry. Our neighbor's wife, her mom and my mom were going to play bingo. My dad just got us bundled in the back seat of his new-to-him car when I started screaming for my mom. We all piled out and started for the backyard (my neighbor's mom lived behind her and they were walking through the backyards to go to the mom's house.)

 

We had just taken a few steps away from our car when another car came squealing around the corner of our street, drove a few yards, then smashed into the back of the car we just exited.

 

Our car was struck so hard that the bowling ball in the back of it flew out the windshield. Our car crashed into our neighbor's car which was parked in front of it.

 

If I hadn't wanted my mom, my brother and I likely would have been severely injured, if not killed.

 

The car that hit us was stolen and was driven by the thief.

 

cue haunting music

 

 

:ohmy:

[Peek a Boo]

Christmas morning 2001.

 

dh has been unemployed since after 9/11 [he's a pilot].

It’s the middle of a very cold winter in Upstate NY.

money is tight, but we're doing ok w/ unemployment checks. Stress is high, though.

 

ds #3 is only 6 mos old, sleeping in bed w/ us.

 

the church had stopped by a couple days ago dropping off a few presents for the kids and us. I had received a nice box of presents from my dad. the tree looked well-stocked :-)

 

back to early Christmas morning....

 

dh rolls over in bed. His elbow causes our old waterbed mattress to crack open: you might as well have taken an exacto knife and slashed it in huge gaping X's.

 

I toss the soaked baby in his crib. dh jumps up and is yelling for the kids to grab some towels to toss on the [hardwood second story] floor. i dump the hamper of dirty clothes around the bed to soak up stuff. dh is trying to hold the plastic and sheets *up* so they don't push any MORE water out.

 

"Run and get the hose!" I throw on a [minimal] shirt and run downstairs to OUTSIDE in the freezing cold New York snow---barefoot!

 

No hose.

Check the barn [run through the snow]

No hose.

Run back and check the basement.

AHA! Throw coiled hose over my shoulder and run like a fireman up the stairs from the basement to the second floor. Kids are now dragging in blankets and comforters and pillows from their beds to replace sopping wet towels [getting piled up in the bathroom tub].

 

baby is still screaming.

 

I hold the plastic up while dh hooks on the hose and tosses it out the window. He runs downstairs outside to start the siphoning process.

 

The hose is kinked and tangled. Drag it back in, straighten it out, and let it out again. dh runs up to help and then back down.....

 

Bed starts draining ...ever so slowly...

 

Kids are waiting to open presents: "wait till 8 o'clock: get dressed, eat some cereal, and pop in a movie..." They very PATIENTLY [bless their hearts!] do as told and then organize all the presents into cute little piles.

I finally get to take care of screaming baby. the water finally gets low enough where dh can stop holding the plastic in place and get dressed.

We replace sopping bed stuff w/ extra blankets from closets in an attempt to prevent water from seeping thru to downstairs and salvage the wood floors.

 

As the water gets lower, dh rolls the sides up to keep a depth that the hose can efficiently suck out as much of the water as possible. By the time the sides are rolled almost together, we disconnect the hose and toss it out the window. We look at the useless mattress and decide to squeeze it thru the window like a big taco :-) It falls unceremoniously to the front yard and we LEAVE it there.

 

Plaster on smiles and go down for Christmas.

 

dh is at an all time low. Not only are we unemployed, he now has NO BED to sleep on, and we don't have any money to buy another one. he sits on the couch w/ that glazed look in his eyes.

 

Kids open their presents. I videotape w/ a smile till my cheeks hurt. Kids hand me the present to *us* from the church. I let my oldest ds videotape while I open it.

 

It's a nice wooden CHEESE BOX. ooh. yay.

 

Inside is another wrapped package, w/ a note: “This gift is perishable and must be used immediately. Due to public health reasons it can not be returned or transferred". o...k...

 

It's tied w/ string, so we slice it open w/ ds' handy dandy pocket knife. Out falls a couple stacks of Federal Reserve Notes [yes, MONEY!].

 

I dropped it like it was on fire: whoah.

 

dh sits up and pays attention [finally]. WHAT THE...???? [he didn't stop at "the"...]

 

There was a stack of $20 bills...

w/ a thousand dollar band around them.

 

There was a second stack of miscellaneous bills...

 

We could hardly believe it. That couldn't have been more perfectly timed if we had TRIED to plan it. We hadn't needed the money until then: we were meeting bills, not going hungry, etc etc. The bed was the only high-dollar item we didn't have cash for, and didn't even need THAT till an hour before. WOW.

 

Well, we couldn't go shopping on Christmas Day [nobody's open!!!], but we slept better on the [now washed and dried] sleeping bags that night.

 

As we decided what to do w/ the money [get a cheap bed and use the rest of the cash elsewhere??], we waited to see what our options would be shopping for a mattress [he refused to consider a used mattress...]. We had wanted a King Size for quite a while --I loved the heated waterbed, but it was kinda small.

 

After looking at mattresses, he was starting to consider a smaller size bed instead of spending alll the money on a good King Size [since the kids sleep w/ us a lot]. I told him to just get the King Size and appreciate it: "Every time you go to sleep, you THANK GOD that He provided this bed in such a timely manner through the wonderful people of our church for YOU." End of discussion. We took our mattress home and have been sleeping on it ever since.

 

End of story.

 

Well, not really....we now have 5 kids instead of just 3, lol.

[Diana in OR]

When I got my first teaching job at a Christian school, I lived with one of the families from the school for 3 years. In their living room, they had wedding party photos of the parents' brothers and sisters. Dh was the best man in one of those photos.

 

I did not meet dh until a year or so after I moved from there. We met at a church, and it had no connection with the family I had lived with. I did not recognize him from the picture.

 

If someone would have told me during that time that my future dh's picture was hanging in my living room, I would have thought they were crazy.

[TN Mama]

Christmas morning 2001.

 

End of story.

 

Well, not really....we now have 5 kids instead of just 3, lol.

 

Ohh... chills... tears... that is a fabulous story!

[Tap]

He wanted to take a few friends with him so I would need 4 tickets. It was too late for us to get tickets-the show was sold out. I told him I would look into it but I didn't think there was anyway to pull it off. The exhibition was for that weekend.

 

We were talking while walking into our library. He went in to turn in his summer reading log for a prize. In the prize book they had 4 Tony Hawk tickets! I think he jumped 3 feet off the ground when he saw them!

 

 

They all had a great time!

[Frankie]

June of 1993, I had major surgery. A couple days after my surgery, my mom went in for quadruple bypass. I lived in Rapid City, she in Denver. I was devastated I couldn't be there for her, and vice versa.

 

A couple nights after I was released from the hospital, I got the call. It wasn't looking good, they weren't expecting my mom to make it.

 

The next morning I called my doctor to see if it was safe for me to fly. No, it wasn't. I flew out anyway. I even got to ride in one of those airport carts because I couldn't walk the airport.

 

Got to the hospital, mom recognized me and even though she was on a vent, she was glad to see me but also wondering why I was there. I sat with her every waking moment. She made it through.

 

When she got out of the hospital, we recovered at her home together. I still had a few weeks off from work for my surgery, so we set up a cardboard table and did puzzles in her living room. We talked about all kinds of things. It was a lovely time.

 

My time there neared an end. I had to go home for my husband's brother's wedding and to get back to work. I didn't want to go. I had a gut feeling about it.

 

My dad drove me to Stapleton Airport. My flight was in the early afternoon. Well, it was too hot for the plane to take off. So we sat. They boarded only half the passengers. Every half hour or so, they'd let two more passengers board. They didn't call my name. I asked dad if I could take his car up to South Dakota, then drive it back and fly home. I really wanted to be there for DH and his brother's wedding. Then the man next to me wanted to go with me. Gave me the creeps, and I didn't want to do that. I decided to chance the flight home.

 

We waited hours, and finally the temp had dropped enough that they boarded a few more people. At this point, they were giving away free roundtrip tickets to anywhere if people would give up their seats. I didn't take one, and normally I would have jumped at that.

 

I was the very last person allowed to board. Our plane left seven hours late.

 

We took off. It was a very turbulent flight. We were just approaching Rapid City, when the captain came on board and announced we could not land because there had been a tornado spotted on the ground. My husband's aunt and uncle were waiting at the airport for me, and they told me later that they saw our plane, and 10 minutes after a different airline did land a plane at Rapid City! We were diverted to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. We landed there, sat for a couple hours, waiting to fly back to Rapid.

 

Very late in the evening, we boarded and flew back -- to Denver. I called my dad at 1 in the morning and asked him to come get me. When I got home, my mom said that "God wants you here for a reason."

 

I decided that that truly was a sign, so I did not get a new ticket home for the next day. I decided to stay the last week I had of my sick leave. I apologized to my husband and his brother for missing the wedding.

 

Two days later, as my mom and I were sitting in her living room visiting, she had a massive heart attack. She immediately went into a coma and passed away three days later.

 

I have always felt that my getting back to South Dakota was prevented by a higher power. God wanted me with mom. Mom's wish had always been that she didn't want to die alone -- and even though my dad was there, and my siblings all did come up, her last waking moments were with me, and they are moments I treasure. Her last moments were not filled with fear or loneliness, sadness or pain -- we were having a lovely visit.

 

I was so thankful to be with her in her final conscious moments and when she passed away.

[Janie]

I cut and pasted this previously written events in italics.

What a glorious homecoming!

 

And how cool was this!

 

Emily’s reserve unit left Fort Bragg on a particular interstate A for the trip to her reserve unit about 2 a.m. Plans were to arrive at the unit at 10 a.m. and be escorted 10 miles down the interstate and through town by a Black Hawk helicopter and more police cars and fire trucks than any Christmas parade I’ve ever seen.

 

We left home at 3:30 a.m. to travel on a particular interstate B for five hours to pick Emily up at her reserve unit. The “we†I refer to is her dad and older sister and me. Her two brothers could not come due to work and class. About 4:30 a.m., Emily calls on her cell phone to say that they are about 20 miles from a particular city where the two interstates merge. I realize that we are also about 20 miles from the same particular city. We all thought how cool that would be to pass the buses on the interstate and wave to each other. With that in mind, I ask her what the buses look like. Two white Southern buses, she’s in the second one on the driver’s side.

 

When we get to the particular city, we need to make a bathroom stop and decide to at McDonald’s and also get breakfast. It’s not quite 5 a.m. as we sit in a corner booth that I chose so I could hopefully see the interstate traffic pass. Well, I couldn’t see any interstate traffic at all, only traffic exiting the interstate. We hadn’t quite finished our sandwiches when what do I see but a white Southern bus pull off the interstate. No. What are the odds? Then, a second white Southern bus. Oh my. My excitement is overflowing! What are the odds that this can happen four hours away from her unit a state away? Both buses pull into McDonald’s parking lot. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! And I realize the cameras are all in the car. The buses pull right in front of our corner seat. As they do, older sister Ashley dashes to the car to retrieve the cameras.

 

Then the buses unload most of 60-some soldiers dressed in their DCUs, tired, and looking for a quick meal. They begin to pile into the short-staffed McDs where I placed myself strategically behind a trashcan to lean upon with the camera. Now this, I think, will sure get Emily back for all those surprises she’s pulled on me! But, no Emily shows up. I keep reading the names on the DCUs, recognizing the names from hearing stories but not knowing the faces to put with the names. Then I see a female. There weren’t but three in this group. I know this one and the face, but it’s not Emily. It’s her battle buddy, Jarvis. Out pours “Jarvis!†She immediately recognizes me from Emily’s pictures. I quickly explain to her this unexpected encounter as many of the other soldiers listen. She said Emily was asleep on the bus, but she would get her off to come in without giving the surprise away. She did and because of the crowd, they came in the opposite door and Emily headed for the bathroom. We positioned ourselves outside the door to catch her on camera as she emerged. Finally, the door opens, but out comes a civilian who promptly backed back up into the bathroom and says to Emily, “They’ve got cameras out there!†So after she dries her hands, which to us seemed forever, Emily comes out and cameras flash.

 

Then, she realizes it’s Mama. And the tears flowed. Hers, not mine. I was too, too excited over this!

 

We recover and finish breakfast, marveling at the odds of such an unplanned encounter! (This will keep me going for months!)

 

The soldiers reboard the bus and head for the unit. We get out ahead and make it there not too much ahead of them.

 

The homecoming to the unit was patriotic, as it should be—dozens of police and sheriff cars, more fire trucks than I knew existed in that part of the state, all with the sirens and horns blaring! And the greatest escort for these soldiers attached to an Airborne unit----a Black Hawk helicopter that led the way. Television and news crews. Families of all types and sizes. Fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, nieces, nephews, policemen, mayors. All welcoming Charlie Company home after a year’s deployment in Iraq. And, as far as I know, all of the soldiers came home. Thanks be unto God.

 

If you have read this far, thank you because you are probably some of whom have so thoughtfully and diligently prayed for not only Emily’s, but all the soldiers’ safety. Thank you for patiently listening and responding to my pleas for general and specific prayer throughout this deployment. It was a long and hard year for them. And they are so glad to be home safely.

 

No matter which side of the fence we are on, we are all citizens of the world, if not the United States of America, and we honor that position by doing our duty, as Robert E. Lee said.

 

It is time for some well-deserved rest and relaxation; time to share with Emily all the saved thoughts and encouragements and notes you have sent to her; time to put up the Christmas tree and the lighted garlands; time to enjoy our family together once again; and time for a Christmas together after three years.

For pictures that accompanied the moment, see here.

The whole homecoming was rather uncanny!

[Frankie]

If you have read this far, thank you because you are probably some of whom have so thoughtfully and diligently prayed for not only Emily’s, but all the soldiers’ safety. Thank you for patiently listening and responding to my pleas for general and specific prayer throughout this deployment. It was a long and hard year for them. And they are so glad to be home safely.

 

Your story brought tears to my eyes and cheeks. Wow.

[sleepy]

That's one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. :crying:

 

Thank you for taking the time to share.

[lynn]

I was waiting with other hsing moms in a classroom while our children took their SAT's here in AL. One mom mentioned something about AZ. So I asked where in AZ, Tucson, where in Tucson? Rita Ranch this is where we moved from 2 years prior. We got this down to our boys were in the same class when we lived there. Had never met but a passing "hello". That was just to weird.

[momofkhm]

My mom's side of the family has a reunion every other year. This one year dh and I decided we weren't going and told my mom. Then mom and dad went on vacation before the reunion. I called mom's sister, we had changed our minds about going. I made hotel reservations, called the hostess and everything but swore everyone to secrecy. In the mean time we also bought a new to us van. One of the girls (now 13 and 11) was nursing at the time of the trip.

 

We had stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom and so I could nurse. (Must have been H. She was only 3 months old at the time of her first reunion. K was 9 months at her first.) Anyway, while I was sitting in the back seat nursing, I saw my mom walk by to go inside. I yelled at dh and he called out to her. She tried to ignore him since who would know her at this rest area a couple states from home? She did finally turn around and he got the biggest hug! I did too once H was finished nursing. Mom and dad almost didn't go to the reunion that year, last minute, since I and my family weren't going.

[Jenstet]

Not really MY story but here you go....

 

Our good friends that we went to high school with, have known for 13 years live in the same town as we do in New Hampshire.

 

He travels a bit and was headed to California. We knew he was leaving that morning, his wife was preganant at the time. He was scheduled to fly out of Boston but his travel agent for work called the day before and had rescheduled him to fly out of Manchester, NH because it is closer, less traffic and the flight was cheaper. He left that morning out of Manchester.

 

Turned out he was originally flying on September 11th, Flight 175 out of Boston. He still has the itinerary from his original travel plans.

[lynn]

This one happened to my dad. He grew up in lawrence mass and moved to FL 30years ago.

 

He worked in a nursing home and saw a familiar name on a door. Went and asked the gentleman "Are you Mr. soandso from Lawrence?" "Yes, I am" "I'm David G. we use to live up the street from you" gentlemen "You're the SOB that use to steal my apples" dad "um, yep that was me"

[Peek a Boo]

oh! howzabout the WTM coincidences?!!

 

which two of y'all was it that ran into each other at some store--- something about markers in the purse??

 

and when Jami [then in....MO?] was going to move and asking about master planned communities, and I [living in TX] jumped in about hating them, and come to find out she was asking about the specific one i was LIVING in?? lol......

[Kay in Cal]

About three years ago now I was with my younger ds at Gymboree. We only did activities there with him for a few months. We were sitting in a circle with our babies, clapping hands, etc... and I realized I recognized the woman sitting across from me. She was a tall blond woman with a German accent...

 

"Excuse me," I asked, "But did you move here from Germany about 10 years ago?"

 

"Yes..."

 

"You flew here on Delta from Frankfurt in 1995."

 

That's right... I sat next to her on an airplane 10 years previously, when I was on my way back from work as a missionary in Kazakhstan. I changed planes in Frankfurt. I even remembered that she had been wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, and hadn't believed me when I told her there would be no smoking in the airport after we landed. She didn't remember me at all, naturally. I guess if we lived in a small town or something it wouldn't be that odd, but I very rarely run into people I know out in public and I LIVE here--along with 20 million or so other people.

[TN Mama]

I cut and pasted this previously written events in italics.

What a glorious homecoming!

 

 

 

Boy, was it! Thank you for sharing your story and a warm thank you to your daughter for serving our country. I thought I was crying while reading the story, but the waterworks went into full effect as I saw the pictures of your "moment".

Hugs from another military family.

[Sara R]

My oldest daughter has a difficult time making friends. Last fall, she made a terrific friend at her charter school. Just a month or two later, she had to move to Minnesota. We were so disappointed!

 

Guess who we saw in church today? That same friend! Not only did they move back to our town from Minnesota, but they chose a rental home around the corner from us. Whoo-hoo! My daughter and I are thrilled!

[Chris in VA]

Today is my deceased brother's birthday. He was an avid golf fan--so much so, that one of my last memories is of him in the hospital, just a few days before he died--his eye caught the TV and he looked up with interest at the golf tournament being broadcast.

 

Today was the Master's. Trevor Immelman won. My brother's name?

Mark Trevorrow.

[Chris in VA]

We tell our children the "story of their birth" every year. Here's part of my daughters--

 

I was talking to my midwife, while in labor, and we got around to chatting about our families. I told her I had two brothers, and described their families briefly. My brother Ken's wife's dad was president of Goodyear International. Midwife suddenly looks very interested--I tell her wife's dad's name, JS, and she practically keels over.

 

She says, I was married to a man who worked for Goodyear. We lived in Paris, and one year, I had a very difficult pregnancy. I've always believed it was JS who set me up in the hospital, and provided the means for excellent care for me, and for our baby, whom we lost. It was this experience that led me, years later, to become a midwife. I've always wanted to thank him, but never did.

 

She later wrote me a letter to give to JS. When I saw him at my brother's lung transplant hospital stay, I told him my amazing midwife story. He said he didn't remember doing that--I said we often have no idea we've done something special for someone, when we do what is just naturally part of our character. He is a caring man, and couldn't have known his influence, both in Elizabeth the Midwife's life, and later, in mine and my daughter's.

 

It was a lovely birth--and Elizabeth is a great midwife.

[Krista in LA]

We had moved from OH to the eastern part of PA. My mom sold Avon back then and got a territory in a mobile home park. She was taking an order from a customer and when she found out their last name, she commented that our next door neighbor in OH had the same last name. It turns out that the dh was the brother of our old neighbor. My mom had to promise not to tell our old neighbors that she met his brother because they didn't want the old neighbor's son to know where they were (he was not a stable person and we understood their fear of him).

[*LC]

I have one for me, one for my parents, and one for my husband.

 

Mine: When I was a senior in college, I was in Bern, Switzerland, looking at the bears with my family. I saw a girl that I knew I had worked with at Wendy's in our hometown in Louisiana. My family didn't know her, and they told me "No way." I moved closer to her, and she, at least, is speaking English. It was her & she remembered me also from when we worked together four years earlier.

 

My parents: Five or six years ago my parents are eaing in a restaurant in California, all the away across the country from their home in Georgia. They decided the father of a family standing outside the restaurant's front window looks like the son of some good friends. They haven't seen the son since they went to California for his wedding five to six years earlier. The family comes inside and it is him. A few weeks ago this same family flew to Atlanta for his sister's wedding, and they ran into my father, who was there picking up my sister from NC for the same wedding.

 

My husband's: When he was around six years old, my husband's dad was a marine and stationed at The Pentagon, I think. Anyway, they moved to Virginia for this assignment. The first day in the new house, my husband rode his bike around the block. He came home saying, "Did you know Uncle Pete lives around the corner and is outside washing his car?" I don't know if he just didnt' remember he been told they would be moving near the uncle, who was in the army, or if the families didn't know. Knowing all parties, either explanation could work.

 

LC

[Beth in SW WA]

Two years ago we were praying about adopting another baby girl from China. Our agency called me on my cell phone as I was driving to pick up my kids from church camp. They said they have a file on a baby who was available immediately. She was considered "special needs" because she was born w/o fingers on her right hand. (considered an outcast in China due to her 'imperfection'.)

 

I was praying that God would give us a sign to confirm that we should adopt her (on my to pick up my older kiddos from camp). While waiting in the parking lot for the campers to arrive I stood visiting w/ another dad from a local church (whom I never met before) who was waiting to pick up his daughter.

 

I looked down at his arm and he had no right hand!! I said, "You are not going to believe this. I just prayed 5 minutes ago that God would show us His will -- and help me understand what life would be like w/o fingers -- and now I meet you!"

 

We talked for an hour. It was totally God.

 

The rest is history -- and she is our little angel ::Angel_anim:

[1bassoon]

Not really MY story but here you go....

 

Our good friends that we went to high school with, have known for 13 years live in the same town as we do in New Hampshire.

 

He travels a bit and was headed to California. We knew he was leaving that morning, his wife was preganant at the time. He was scheduled to fly out of Boston but his travel agent for work called the day before and had rescheduled him to fly out of Manchester, NH because it is closer, less traffic and the flight was cheaper. He left that morning out of Manchester.

 

Turned out he was originally flying on September 11th, Flight 175 out of Boston. He still has the itinerary from his original travel plans.

 

You know, living in CT, we heard TONS of those stories. . . . . .

[Sasharowan]

I was friends with a girl in my 5th grade class in Jacksonville, FL, who moved in the middle of the year (both our dads were Navy). When I was in 7th grade we moved to Key West, FL. Guess who was living right down the street? Yup, same girl.

[*LC]

When our oldest child was born 13 years ago, my husband and I got life insurance. His was as a supplement to the insurance he had at work. Anyway, a two years later he quit his job to become an independent, computer consultant. In the craziness of starting a business and adding to our family, we didn't change the amount of this supplemental life insurance. I can't remember why, because I'm guessing we had to have discussed it. We had applied for disability insurance for him, but for some reason, he couldn't get it as start-up, self-employed businessman.

 

Five years later, he was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor out of the blue. So, he talks to the agent about adding more life insurance. He is told he has to wait two years after surgery. It turns out he needs a second surgery to remove some tumor that was missed in the first surgery. That restarts the clock.

 

The two years goes by and he applies for a good bit of life insurance, since we now have five children and we have seen how quick things can change. Months go by and we hear nothing. Finally, one day he receives a short "rejection" letter; we understand, who insures brain tumor patients. Some time goes by and he re-reads the "rejection" letter. It turns out someone, somewhere didn't file all the paperwork needed, and he hadn't been rejected just put in the holding pen. So, he gets the agent to figure out what needs to happen to get him out of the holding pen. They accept him, but are going to charge him a bunch of money for the first five years. We talk about it, and we just can't see spending that much for insurance when the chances we'll ever need it are slim. Then, he asks if he can get less insurance for less money. Yes. So we do that and keep the original policy, which is with the same company. So, he ends up with around the amount of coverage he had wanted for basically half the charge. This is around Thanksgiving of 2006.

 

After that Christmas, he begins noticing some weird symptoms with his hands and mouth. He was scheduled to have a routine, follow-up MRI in January. the news he had a new tumoHe moved it up a few weeks to Dec. 30, 2006 On January 2, he got the news, he had a new tumor, and he died three months later. Even though the insurance company knew his history, I knew they were going to balk about paying his claim less than six months after he got the new policy.

 

Anyway, the estate attorney mailed the life insurance claim forms out to the midwest on June 12. I got the check in my mailbox on June 22. That was my husband's birthday. Even if they didn't question the claim, I find it amazing it was able to get all the way out there, be processed, and sent all the way back here in less than two weeks.

 

I had been worried his birthday would be a tough day. Instead, I spent the whole rest of the day laughing and thanking God for His care ans His timing.

 

LC

[ELaurie]

my dad was diagnosed with a severe arterial sclerosis. One of the major arteries in his heart were 90% occluded, and he was told he needed immediate open heart surgery.

 

He declined, and flew to St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City MO by air ambulance. He underwent what was then an experimental procedure - balloon angioplasty and the insertion of an stent in his main artery.

 

I flew out to be with him and my mom during the procedure.

 

All went well, and a week later I flew back to the Chicago area .

 

I arrived at O'hare on a snowy winter evening, facing the prospect of long lines for a cab due to delays caused by the weather. While chatting with the man behind me in line, we discovered that we were headed to the same Chicago suburb, and decided to share a cab ride.

 

I was headed home after my father's surgery, and he was headed to Evanston Hospital to be with his dad who was dying of cancer.

 

It turned out that he was a photographer, who had just done a series of photographs for a book about heart disease. The book included photos of the procedure my dad had had. The photos were taken at St. Luke's hospital, one of only two places in the country doing the procedure at the time.

 

Several months later, I received an autographed copy of the book in the mail, along with a beautifully written letter letting me know that his father had passed away, but he still remembered our shared cab ride.

 

I've always been touched by his kindness, and our "coincidence."

[Amy in Orlando]

I have two stories and they actually end up being related.

 

#1: I was at Whole Foods with the kids on a Saturday. I was scooping some herbs and spices to use in my soaps. A woman approached me and asked if I had a pen she could borrow. I'm a "pen geek" I offered her a huge assortment or markers and pens. She laughed and asked me if I homeschooled. (No, we weren't wearing denim jumpers.) I said I did. She asked if I knew The Well Trained Mind. Again, yes. It was Mary (is she on this new board?).

 

#2: A few months after I met Mary, dh become horribly sick and was in ICU. I was oblivious to everything. The second morning after his first surgery, my mom and I went early in the am to visit him in the ICU. I was wearing a necklace I often wear - a long silver chain with a round, tiny "prayer box" with a small turquoise rosary inside of it. I've always worn it when I'm worried or anxious. We visited with Mike (he didn't know we were there, but we were) and started out of the hospital - ICU is pretty strict about how long you can visit.

 

As we stepped out of the elevator I glanced down to see that the little prayer box was open and my rosary was gone. We looked around the elevator, but didn't see anything. My mom and I are notorious for getting lost everywhere and finding out way from the ICU to the right elevator was no exception. We had been lost enough that retracing our route was not an option.

 

I told my mom I could replace the rosary and that maybe whoever found it needed it more than I did. As we were heading out of the hospital, we saw hordes of nurses, doctors, hospital staff and their kids coming in with sleeping bags and cases of water. We'd be so preoccupied with dh's illness we were completely unaware that a hurricane was heading our way.

 

Well, that hurricane (which ruined our roof and some other damage) was the first of four that hit while dh was in the hospital.

 

ETA (I can't believe I left this point out!) It was two days until I could get back to the hospital to see Mike. When I finally got there, my little turquoise rosary was taped to Mike's ventilator. None of the nurses knew how it got there. (here, have a tissue). I think it's just the most amazing thing.

 

#3: After the 2nd or 3rd hurricane, Mary got in touch with me. She'd read about dh on the WTM board. She offered to bring dinner. And, she did. Yummy dinner that my boys were so grateful to have instead of the fast food junk I'd been feeding them between hospital visits. As my mom and I sat and talked with Mary, I learned that her house had suffered major damage ad they were trying to deal with insurance and leaks and jsut the stress. Yet, she took the time to make my family a wonderful dinner and to stay and visit.

 

Kind of amazing.

[Michelle My Bell]

I will share a quick one. I was raised by my Aunt in a little brick house. One day in April, when I was 14 years old, I got a call after I had just gotten home from school that my Aunt had collapsed at work. She died that same day. It was a very tramatic time for me because I loved her like my own mother. What made it even worse is I had to move out of my "safe haven" little brick house.

 

Recently (20 years later) we had a new friend over who was helping my husband fix our plumbing under our kitchen sink. As we were getting to know him a little bit better, I mentioned the neigborhood I grew up in. He said, "Oh I used to live in that neighborhood a few years back." Then I told him the street name and he said, "Yeah! That was my road!" At this point I started to think he was lying (He is a guy with a dry sense of humor). He asked me the address and I said "4238" and he said, "Yep, that was my house."

 

I was like "No way, your pulling my leg!" I mean I live in a city of 300,000 not including the burbs! So he calls his wife and says "Honey, could you please tell Michelle the address of our house on _______ Rd?" So she gets on the phone and says " We lived at 4238 ___________"

 

I couldn't believe that he lived in MY HOUSE! He lived there just a couple of years after my Aunt had passed away. He told me all the improvments they had made to the house. It was wild!

 

Michelle

[AndyJoy]

This is actually my mom's story, but it's really great!

 

My mom's best friend was at a Melaleuca convention and saw a woman across the room who she said looked so much like my mom that they could be sisters. My mom thought that was amusing, but said, "Well, I do have two older half sisters whom I've never met. Maybe it's one of them?" A few months later, my mom's dad died, and she was introduced to her half sister at the hospital. Out of curiosity, my mom asked her if she sold Melaleuca and had attended that convention. Sure enough, she had! Also, both my mom and her half sister named their firstborns Andrea!

[momofkhm]

I went to summer camp all through my childhood. For late high school they had a 2 year counselor in training program that I did. The first year, there was a girl at a sister camp who was the only CIT at her camp. They drove her down to ours and we slept in the same tent all summer, got to be good friends. (Hated the same second year girl.)

 

Forward 2 years later, May at the State high school track championships. I see someone down by the track who looks like someone I know. Mom finally convinces me to go down and see if I actually do know this girl. Turns out it was the same girl.

 

Forward another year to college. Freshman show up 1/2 week early so we can get acquainted with campus and stuff. I run into *her* the second day there and she asks me why I didn't show up for cross country practice. The coach had called my name. I had decided I didn't want to run anymore but I lied to her and said I couldn't find my running shoes. I showed up that day and every day for the next 4 years.

 

She ended up being a bridesmaid at my wedding.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Well, this is not an amazing coincidence, imo, but goes way beyond.

 

Dh, ds (2 yrs at the time), and I were to fly from St Louis to Rochester, NY via Chicago. We got to Chicago before lunch. All was fine. Then, things fell apart weather-wise and we were stuck there with no luggage. Later in the evening, it became clear nothing was heading out. We got on a morning flight list. My sister, thankfully, lived close so we crashed on her floor and couch that night. I borrowed a clean shirt and the likes.

 

Next day, we get to the airport early. We were in the seating area waiting. I looked up at the flight board and all the sudden it went blank. No announcement or anything! I ran to the counter and was told it was cancelled. She said I had to go to customer service to get helped. I was so upset. I ran all the way with dh and ds trailing behind. When I got to customer service, the line was about 100+ people deep with only 2 or 3 service agents at the counter. I almost started crying right there. I said a little prayer for help so that I would know what to do now.

 

Literally 2 minutes later, this man taps me on the shoulder and holds up his GOLD VIP card. He says he's doing his good deed for the day and that I looked distraught. He took us into the VIP lounge where there were 3-4 agents helping a line of 8-10 people! He seemed to disappear after that.

 

We didn't get anywhere right away. But my chin was definitely lifted a bit. We were put on standby for a flight that night. We hung out in the airport the whole day killing time until that flight was supposed to board.

 

The boarding area was packed and very tense. We developed a lovely rapport with our fellow travelers (or hoping to be travelers). Finally the plane was boarding. It was the last and only flight out to Roch. that day. They closed the doors and I felt deflated. They opened them up and started calling standby people. Then they closed the doors again. Once more they counted and opened up to call another group. The lady was crying. They wouldn't let her on since her party had left the area. THere was no time to call them back. We were called next, the very last to get on that plane. Those we were sitting with in the boarding area erupted in loud cheers when we walked on that plane.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

Short story:

 

DH was on his way home from a guys weekend and I was on my way home from my mom's. As I was pulling onto the interstate about 30 miles from home, this big red truck changed lanes to make room for me. I was my husband.

 

Long story:

 

When my oldest son was 12 months, he and I flew from SC to CO to meet up with my husband who was already out there. (He had gone out to a Young Life camp with a group of high school students the week before.) DS and I had had an easy flight out to CO because my parents took us to the airport and I just had one short layover in Atlanta. We had a great vacation and were actually able to go to the wedding of a friend from home while we were out there. (That was a coincidence all on its own.)

 

The trip back was a little different. We stayed at a hotel near the airport the night before our flights. DH couldn't get a reasonably priced ticket on the flight DS and I were taking back, so he flew out pre-dawn by himself. He took the rental car and as much of our luggage with him as he could. DS and I were exhausted from the wedding the night before and we had two pretty significant layovers on the way home. I was not looking forward to this trip at all--carrying a non-walking, 25lb baby, his huge carseat and all his paraphernalia through four airports.

 

We went to the lobby of the hotel to grab breakfast and then take the shuttle to the airport. The lobby was packed and I ended up sitting with three flight attendants. We got to talking and it turned out that they were going to be working on my flight! They took such good care of my son and me. They carried our bags, helped us on and off the shuttle, checked my bags, seated me right away, gave us extra snacks--just really treated us like royalty.

 

We got to our first layover in Dallas, found our connecting flight, and ran into our pastor and his wife! It was such a relief to have two extra pairs of arms to help with my son during the rest of that layover, the flight to Atlanta, and the layover in Atlanta.

 

I had an earlier connecting flight from Atlanta to home than they did, so as they were saying goodbye to me at the gate, up walks another man from our church for the flight I was on! He helped us onto that flight, and then waited for me when we got off at home and escorted me into the building (it was one of those short connector flights that disembarked on the tarmac) and waited with us until we found my DH.

 

I never had to carry that stinkin' car seat once on the trip home and had people with me all day long that were looking out for me. It was a wonderful trip home...

[JFSinIL]

My roommate at UCLA and I ended up married to roommates from University of Dallas.

[RegularMom]

A year ago, we moved to a sleepy little unknown town in eastern PA from Colorado. We rented a little farmhouse for almost a year while we waited for our house in Colorado to sell. After about 8 months, it finally sold. We looked around for a few months and finally found a house to buy, in this same sleepy little town.

 

Meanwhile, one of my dh's aunts retired after 35 years of teaching. She and her husband decided to sell the house in NJ they'd lived in for those 35 years and move to Colorado. They eventually bought a place in Colorado. The people they bought from were originally born and raised in this same sleepy little town in PA we've just moved to.

 

A few months after that little coincidence, I was out front doing some yard work. I met my neighbor across the street. She's quite nice. After a few minutes of chatting we discovered that one of her very best friends just moved into the same exact little farmhouse we'd been living in the past year before we were able to buy this new house.

 

Two days later, I met another neighbor a few houses up, and after a few minutes of chatting we discovered that's we'd gone to the same college in NJ.

 

If one more thing like this happens, I'm thinking about starting to play the lottery more regularly. :001_smile:

[Ferdie]

I love these stories. Mine is that when my dh and I met we had the exact same coffee mugs. I bought mine a few months before I met him at Gemco, (does anyone remember that store?). It was white with green checkboard squares which I thought was perfect for my office since I worked at a computer center - very high techish.

 

My dh never came to my office because our entire computer center was a secured site, so when I went to his house and saw his mug I about fell over.

 

We married a year later and will celebrate 25 years this year. We still have our mugs proudly on display in our china hutch.

[PineFarmMom]

My brother's wife's sister (got that?) and her husband bought a piece of land in east Texas. On that land is a cemetary. The cemetary, unbeknownst to them, contains our ancestors. When purchasing the land, someone from the city nearest, gave them a book that had the family history of the family buried on their land. On the very last page of the family tree part was my parents names, then my brother, my sister & I.

 

I have a copy and I've read through it. It has family members that came over during Jamestown. I read stories of family members from way back, people in the Civil War. One aunt from the late 1800s had dreams like I do, dreams she knows that God gave her. God showed her a vision of the man she would marry. He would ride up on a white horse while she was working in the garden. She saw his face and everything. Sure enough, it happened and she married him. It's full of cool stories of people I've never met. How weird is it that an inlaw of my brother would buy that very piece of land...we don't even have family that lives there anymore. Our family moved towards west TX back in the early 1900s.

 

T

[Lisa in Jax]

I have two:

 

1. When dh and I were planning our wedding, we were worried about having enough money to pay for the reception. Just a couple of weeks before the wedding, a friend called me to say that she had seen my name in a newspaper as part of a list of owners of "unclaimed property." The property turned out to be money owed to my father, which I had never received after my dad's death. The check was exactly the amount we needed to pay for our reception.

 

2. Ten years later, dh and I were thinking about adopting two orphans whose files were being sent to us from the adoption agency. We were concerned about how we would finance the adoptions. The day the files arrived, the Virginia "unclaimed property" office called our house (in Florida) and asked for me by my maiden name. The unclaimed property clerk had tried to track me down for more than four years and finally found us in Florida. (We had moved four times in the past ten years.) When I got on the phone, she said that there was a check that was related to my dad's death. The check was *exactly* the amount we needed to adopt the two kids.

 

Lisa

[gardenschooler]

When I was a teenager, I used to entertain all kinds of morbid and superstitious thoughts. We'd all sit around and talk about how we thought we would die (I know, and I seem so normal now, don't I?). Somehow or another, I got it in my head that I was going to die in a car accident on my 26th birthday.

 

I don't know if the dreams came first or after this, but I dreamed about it for years. After awhile, I even started to kind of believe it. Fast forward to being a grown-up, and not as silly and superstitious....but after so many dreams, I did still sort of keep it in the back of my mind. I didn't really believe it, but I had dwelled on it enough to sort of spook myself.

 

On my actual 26th birthday, dh would hear none of my nonsense and insisted we go out to dinner and shopping. Because I have a tendency to be a little neurotic anyway, I thought I'd just go and celebrate my birthday - what am I going to do, refuse to leave the house because of this craziness?

 

Everything went great, we had a nice dinner out, and then went shopping. As we were leaving, a very annoying older man stopped and asked us directions. Complicated directions. It took a good 5 minutes to get him sorted out, but dh, being nice like that, didn't mind. I was highly irritated by this delay, and just wanted to get home. Now.

 

As we were getting close to home, we were getting ready to turn left onto a busy street. There was a Burger King straight ahead. I remember looking at it, and feeling just kind of strange. We were still way back, pretty far from the turn. All of a sudden, a car came out of nowhere, and smashed right into the Burger King! I mean, the car was actually IN the restaurant!

 

If we'd been a couple of minutes earlier, it would have hit us.

 

I've never been so thankful for irritating old men asking directions in my life. Probably just a bunch of coincidences and an over-active imagination, but still.

[Chris in VA]

This should be in the amazing coincidences thread but I'm putting it here anyway.

 

Yesterday, as I said, was my deceased brother's birthday--his name was Mark Trevorrow. I had scanned facebook for Trevorrow's, wondering if my English relatives were on--and I found a "Mark Trevorrow." Okay, fine. I wrote him a quick note and wished him well in his life.

Today I get a note back, and he says that he got my note, and wanted to let me know he has a brother, Luke Trevorrow--

Luke's birthday was yesterday.

 

 

Doooo Doooo Dooooo.....

 

 

ETA: Oh, poo---should be on General Board!!!

[Cathy in IL]

I adopted my dd when she was a baby. When she was 5 she started praying that she could meet her biological siblings. I didn't know who adopted them or where they lived.

 

I took my dd to the first day of class at Ballet Chicago. When they called roll a lady came over and asked if I was N's mother. She then said she thought we may have adopted sibs. Sure enough, she had adopted my dd's brother.

 

They now have a relationship with each other and have even found one more sibling.

[OnTheBrink]

It was a week or so after my son's grandfather's death. I lived in a northern burb of San Diego; my son's grandmother lived in an eastern burb of San Diego, so it was about a 45 minute drive by freeway from my place to hers. Anyway, I had driven down to see my son's grandmother and pick up my son's half-sister for the weekend. She was just an infant; my son was 3, so both kids had to be in car seats. I remember putting the baby in her car seat and left the car door open so grandmother could kiss her good-bye. I went around and put my son in his seat on the other side of the car. Grandmother locked and slammed the car door, then checked it, as was always her habit. It was locked tight.

 

I got into the car and drove off. As I got on the freeway, I heard a rattle. At first, I thought it was one of the kids' toys or cups or something and ignored it, but it continued, persistently. I turned my head and could see the car door by the baby visibly rattling, as if it would fly open any second. Alarmed, I tried to find an exit, but I was heading west and the sun was going down. The glare made it hard for me to see, so I sort of "drove by braille" to find an exit and pull off to fix the door. There was a gas station at the bottom of the exit, so I pulled in, got out and slammed the baby's door again. Then I looked down and noticed a liquid pouring out of the bottom of the car. It was hot outside and I was hoping it was just water from the A/C. I went into the gas station and asked the attendant if he know what that fluid was. He said, "That's gasoline! Get those kids out of the car NOW!" So, he and I rushed over and got the kids out as gas just poured out of the bottom of the car. He called the fire dept who cleaned up the gas and I called a tow truck to take my car to a repair shop. I then called Grandmother to come get us.

 

When I left Grandmother's house, I had a full tank of gasoline. 3 miles later, the tank was empty, due to it being punctured by something I had apparently run over. Had that door never rattled, I'd have not gotten off the freeway and gotten myself and the kids out of the car. I'd have been stranded on the freeway with no cell (this was 1990) in the dark with two small children. That door never, ever rattled again after that.

[asher]

I went to high school in Japan (I was a Navy child). I married an Army man and we have found ourselves in beautiful CO. I knew that some of my Japan alumn were here, but not exactly where. One of my friends invited us to their church. It's a smallish church in a strip mall, but we loved it. I look up in the church band, and it's one of my former classmates! Too crazy!

[Amy in Orlando]

:glare: I left the main point of my "coincidence" reply out last night. Here's a link to the page. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20282&page=4

 

I have really enjoyed reading all of these stories.