# Fortuitous encounters that had a surprisingly large impact **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortuitous-encounters-that-had-a-surprisingly-large-impact/1019740 "2025-06-17T01:56:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 19
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortuitous-encounters-that-had-a-surprisingly-large-impact/1019740/19 "2025-06-20T03:45:41Z")
For the first 25 years of my adult life, I lived in Midtown Memphis. I hated long commutes and chose jobs with that in mind. They were usually within 2 miles or so of my apartment. In 1998, my company decided to move to Germantown, a city just east of Memphis. I really, really didn’t want to drive across the entire city to get there and decided to change jobs. One day a co-worker’s husband came by to take her to lunch. In the course of our conversation, he mentioned that there was an opening at his company, just a few blocks away. I applied, interviewed and was quickly hired. In 2003, I bought a house. I couldn’t afford one in Midtown so I moved to an eastern suburb. Of course, I hated the long commute but by that point I was vested in my company’s retirement plan and not getting any younger, so I sucked it up. But then a few months later, my division was relocated to a new workspace just 2 miles from my house! I couldn’t believe it. I joked that I bought that house because I could see the future. I worked there until I retired in 2020. Because I happened to talk to a co-worker’s husband that day, I was able to avoid the horrors of a long commute for another 22 years. And it was a pretty good company to work for. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortuitous-encounters-that-had-a-surprisingly-large-impact/1019740)._