What a wacky coinkydink!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I am a firm believer in the power of coincidence (and a disbeliever in the supernatural.) I thought I’d relate what I considered an impressive coincidence I experienced this a.m., and invite others to share coincidences they experienced.

Basically, on my way to work this morning, I passed a car at the same place where I passed it yesterday morning. I’m sure the explanation is not all that exciting, but if I explain a little more, you might agree that this was at least a mite unusual.

I live 25 miles west of Chicago, and generally take the same commuter train in. The train gets into the station in a minute or two range. I walk off the train, down the platform, and a block or so through the station and attached building before I get to the street. Then my route takes me along Madison St for 2 blocks before I turn.

Yesterday, as I got out to the street, and started to cross the Madison bridge, I noticed a PT Cruiser driving towards me. As it passed, I noticed an elaborate yellow pinstriping decoration on the side. And I promptly forgot it.

This morning I was making my normal commute, and again happened to notice a red PT Cruiser. As it passed, I realized it was the same pinstriped car.

Given the variables involved, including traffic and stoplights every block for the driver, and the train’s arrival and passenger traffic on my end, it struck me as rather impressive that this car and I happened to pass each other on consecutive days within a hundred yard space. When I signed in to work, I was 2 minutes earlier than yesterday.

Certainly not earth shattering, but nonetheless, I thought it somewhat neat.

So, you got any coinkydinks to share?

2

I have two…

The serial number on a five-dollar-bill that I own matches the first eight digits of my social security number.

My sister, Barbara, married a man named Michael and they had three children; two boys and one girl.
My cousin, Michael, married a woman named Barbara and they had three children; two boys and one girl.

3

My best has to do with our former nanny.

My wife and I were just deciding that one of us should be stay-at-home, and for a variety of reasons, that looked to be my wife. Our daughter was about a year old at the time and we had a nanny to care for her and our young son.

My wife wanted to do it, but was hesitant about making the transition fully - in our fantasy world, we were thinking it would be great if our wonderful nanny could be available for 1 day a week for a few months to ease the change…but that type of situation is basically impossible - for our nanny to go after a different childcare situation, she would have to be available full time.

So we are wrestling with this, not sure what to do. One weekend morning, I go shopping. At the dairy case, I have to reach over a new mom and her baby in a carrier to get to the milk I want. As I do so, I say “cute baby” and start to move on. The woman thanks me and we chit chat about nothing in particular for about 5 - 10 more seconds, then I continued with my shopping.

I went one way, and the mom another, but the paths cross over given the layout of the store. She sees me again, approaches me and says “I’m sorry, but we’re new in town, don’t know anyone and I have a question - we’re looking for a nanny; would you know how we might find one?” I mention I might know one, and am about to provide a little detail, but she cuts me off and says “before you go on, there is one catch - we’re looking for someone who can work 4 days a week - I want to ease back into the working world. I know that might be a problem for nannies looking for full time work.”

I just stood there amazed and said “have I got a story for you…”

Needless to say, after a brief check with the nanny and minor discussion, all was taken care of. Easiest transition of this type I have ever witnessed. And now, years later, that couple still has that nanny - full time for a number of years now…

That was a pretty amazing coincidence…

4

Call me silly and obscure, but I find reading James Redfield tends to increase coincidences in my life. He would call what happened to Dinsdale a Synchronistic event. I would tend to agree…

5

My boyfriend has two cousins (brother and sister) that have the same names as my boyfriend and I. I always thought that was a little weird.

6

Here’s a wacky coinkydink for ya!

7

I have had two dentists in my life.

Both of these dentists had daughters.

Neither of these girls lived in my immediate area.

I dated both of these girls.

In each case, I did not know who their fathers were until we were a few dates into the relationship.

8

I think I’ve posted this before, but I might as well do it again -

When I was in 11th grade in rural NC, I dated a girl (we’ll call her Elanor). She moved before our senior year started, and I never saw her again. Flash forward 2.5 years, and I’ve moved to Mississippi where I met another girl (we’ll call her Ruri).

Turns out Ruri had lived in the same NC town I’d lived in, though several years earlier. She went to middle school with Elanor, and then moved to Germany. They’d kept in touch, and she had received a letter from Elanor, which included pictures of me.

Wacky.

9

Ok I used to go to this place for karaoke. I became friends with a woman named Sandy there. Sandy and I lost touch. Last night I took my father to MSG to see Barbra Streisand. Our seats were in one area but we were moved to another because my father was having a problem with his leg and needed an isle to strech it into.

So we are moved to folding chairs almost on the other side of the garden. After the concert I get up to leave and sitting in the section right behind us is Sandy!

What are the odds that we would be at the same concert because she isn’t our style and be sitting near each other in the huge theater?

10

This is the biggest coincidence that’s happened to me so far:

Last year, I met a nice guy online. We exchanged emails and I found out he had the same name as my dad, who doesn’t have a very common name. (His dad has the same name as my dad’s dad too. But it’s pretty common.) Things went well though and we started dating. A couple weeks into it, he tells me he just found out he has mono, given to him by his wonderful ex. So, of course, two months later, I’ve got it.

When Mom and Dad started dating, the same thing happened with them. Dad got mono from his ex and didn’t know it until Mom had already been infected. Mom realized something was wrong when she couldn’t do more than a couple laps for a swimming test.

I learned from history. I didn’t take my swimming test until 6 or 7 months after I’d gotten better. :slight_smile: And if things go as they did for my parents, Praetor and I should be married and have a couple daughters within a few years…

11

This is the one I always tell whenever these threads come up…

20 years ago, I was mountain climbing in Colorado. On the top of Mt. Elbert, the tallest peak in the state, I met a guy named Garin. We started talking, and it turned out that we knew someone in common- we’d both dated the same girl.

That’s weird enough, right? The kicker is that I dated her in Houston… he’d dated her in Singapore.

12

I used to play an online game called Gunbound (imagine Worms but crazier). People from all over the world played on the 12 different servers within the game. I added a few people from various games in various servers to my friend’s list. After a few months of playing I’m talking to one of my friends while playing, and it turns out that he’s my cousin who dogged on me in high school. He really made my high school experience hellish by spreading mean (and untrue) stuff about me to his friends and yelled obscene things at me whenever he saw me.

Gah. After we realized who each other were, he apologized but I took him off my friend’s list. What a bastard.

13

I’ve mentioned this before as well.

I have a family name that is native to Louisiana, and largely unknown elsewhere. Living in El Paso for many years, I never encountered anyone else (outside of my immediate family, of course) with the same surname. When I was in college, I dated a young lady whose first name was fairly common, but spelled in an unusual way.

One summer, I took a temporary job wherein I spent my days preparing medical records for microimaging. Since I had to enter information from each file into the computer system, I was in a good position to notice the names of the patients. The whole summer, I only came across one who shared my last name. What made it odd was that the first name was the same as my girlfriend’s and spelled in the same unusual way. The patient’s middle initial was M, which was the first letter of my girlfriend’s last name.

Weirded me out.

14

You’ve had two dentists that were sheep? :smiley:
(I am sorry, Hal, but it was hanging out there and I had to go for it; I am sure you are tired of this by now. For Dopers that don’t know the reference, let’s just say it was a thread-posting mishap that took on a life of its own and was sheep-related…)

15

On 6/6/06 I went in to cash a lottery ticket - I think I won $50. The clerk went to enter the last three numbers of the ticket into the computer to validate it and said “whoa” - the last three numbers were 666.

16

A few months ago I went up to Seattle for a Lindy dance weekend event. While there, I stayed for a few days with a friend (then just an acquaintance) who I’d met while dancing and going to school in LA. Some of her family was also staying there, and while several of us were talking over a glass of wine before dinner, it was discovered that my stepmother’s sister’s husband’s sister’s husband’s son’s ex-wife was my friend’s aunt. We now joke that we are “ex-step-cousins-in-law”.

The actual relationship is so tenuous that I’m sure I share something similar with many thousands of people. But what are the odds that we’d discover it by chance?

17

Most of the synchronicity I’ve experienced is with dates (calendar dates, not dinner and a movie dates).

My husband’s wedding anniversary (his second wife) is my daughter’s birthday.

Husband’s oldest son’s birthday and my birthday.

His second son’s birthday was my first wedding anniversary.

His middle name is the same as my brother and my dad.

The number 19: my birthday, the day I lost my virginity, and the day these people died – best friend from school and husband (both in January), mother, and brother.

If I add the numbers of the date of my dad’s death, they add up to 19.

There are more 19s, but they’re even more convoluted. My daughter’s always looking for 19 synchronicity, and she always breathes easier when the 19th of the month passes quietly (no pun intended).

18

My dad, my brother, and I married women named Christine. My wife and dad’s new wife had the same middle name, too.

19

On time I took my car to a shop outside the beltway in Houston for some body work. After I handed over the keys I asked the guy in the office if he had the number of a cab company so I could call a cab to take me to my job near downtown. He wrote the number on a post-it note and passed it to me.

I dialed the number and a woman answered.

“John Doe, Attorney at Law, how can I help you?” she said.

John Doe was the lawyer who had handled my divorce the year before. I was so shocked I didn’t say anything, I just hung up the phone.

I asked the guy who’d given me the number if he knew John Doe. He’d never heard of him. He’d just written down a random wrong number by accident.

What are the odds? In a city the size of Houston?

So he gave me the right number and I called a cab. When the cab showed up I climbed in and told the driver the address. At the time I was working for a small photo retouching studio that employed about 30 people.

“Ah, you want to go to XYZ Retouching!” he said.

Now it was pretty amazing that he knew the name of this little company just from the address. We didn’t even have a sign out front. We were just a little nondescript office building on a side-street.

“How do you know about XYZ?” I said.

“Oh I used to work there as an artist,” he said.

Turns out he had quit shortly before I was hired.

What are the odds? In a city the size of Houston?

The two biggest coincidences I’ve ever experienced occured about ten minutes apart.

20

Well, this one’s a biggie, but it’s pretty neat.

Due to various personal circumstances, my daughter & I were living with friends. The couple had been attempting to have a child for several years; unfortunately, the wife had had several miscarrages & it wasn’t looking good. They had started discussing adoption options.

One night, I was out with a completely different friend, who confided in me that she was pregnant (by her husband) but due to their financial circumstances, didn’t know if they could keep the child. She was uncomfortable with the choice of an abortion, although she hadn’t yet ruled it out. (She was one of those women who can conceive through birth control if their partner even looks at them with intent…)

My brain started clicking.

I introduced one friend to the other - and about 8 months later, the couple I was living with adopted the other couple’s child.

Now, in and of itself, this is a coincidence that I was the common link between these two couples; the weird part is:

Their first child (who was 5 or 6 when Friend 2 was pregnant in the above situation) is very obviously the child of his parents. Their second (third) child is also very obviously the child of his parents.

The adopted child? He looks like the adoptive parents, and very little like his biological parents.

They’re all still friends, BTW - when the adopted child is older I believe they intend to tell him the circumstances surrounding his birth, but he’s not quite old enough yet (and also has PDD, which might make it more difficult).