Coincidence
Have you ever experienced a series of coincidences to the point that it freaks you out a little bit?
In August I went to a Jewish leadership retreat in New York State targeted at Jewish teens from all over the country who are involved in NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth). The retreat was a ton of fun and I learned a lot about how to be more effective in my role as a regional board member, but it was the trip back to the airport where the coincidences began.
When I got onto the bus I scanned the seats and spotted my close friend Hannah. Hannah and I spent the entire ride laughing and catching each other up on our lives, and at one point I briefly mentioned that I am taking a flight from Newark to Boston and then taking another plane from Boston to Chicago. Then coincidence #1 happened. A girl sitting across the aisle said that she was also going to Boston. I then asked what flight she was taking and she was taking the exact same flight as me. We were the only two people taking that flight and we happened to have seats right next to each other. Weird.
After going through security I found the girl on my flight again and decided to introduce myself to her. She said that her name was Jessica but that she goes by Jess. I thought it was funny that I had a really close friend back in Champaign whose name was Jessica and that she also went by Jess. I then told her my name and she started laughing saying that she had a boyfriend named Ethan back in LA. We then got lunch and started our 6-hour long conversation.
I told her that I went to the retreat with my girlfriend Sarah who I have been dating for 3 years and It turns out that she had a long-term boyfriend as well. She then told me that her boyfriend was the religious and cultural vice president in the Southern California region which is crazy because I am the religious and cultural vice president of my NFTY region. I then asked her what college Jess wants to go to next year, and she said that her top choice was Indiana University (this is very unusual for people who live in California) which is also my top choice. We also had the exact same results on our ACT tests that we took earlier that year.
During the plane ride to Boston, Jess and I found many more similarities which made me think was this all a coincidence or was it fate?
In August I went to a Jewish leadership retreat in New York State targeted at Jewish teens from all over the country who are involved in NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth). The retreat was a ton of fun and I learned a lot about how to be more effective in my role as a regional board member, but it was the trip back to the airport where the coincidences began.
When I got onto the bus I scanned the seats and spotted my close friend Hannah. Hannah and I spent the entire ride laughing and catching each other up on our lives, and at one point I briefly mentioned that I am taking a flight from Newark to Boston and then taking another plane from Boston to Chicago. Then coincidence #1 happened. A girl sitting across the aisle said that she was also going to Boston. I then asked what flight she was taking and she was taking the exact same flight as me. We were the only two people taking that flight and we happened to have seats right next to each other. Weird.
After going through security I found the girl on my flight again and decided to introduce myself to her. She said that her name was Jessica but that she goes by Jess. I thought it was funny that I had a really close friend back in Champaign whose name was Jessica and that she also went by Jess. I then told her my name and she started laughing saying that she had a boyfriend named Ethan back in LA. We then got lunch and started our 6-hour long conversation.
I told her that I went to the retreat with my girlfriend Sarah who I have been dating for 3 years and It turns out that she had a long-term boyfriend as well. She then told me that her boyfriend was the religious and cultural vice president in the Southern California region which is crazy because I am the religious and cultural vice president of my NFTY region. I then asked her what college Jess wants to go to next year, and she said that her top choice was Indiana University (this is very unusual for people who live in California) which is also my top choice. We also had the exact same results on our ACT tests that we took earlier that year.
During the plane ride to Boston, Jess and I found many more similarities which made me think was this all a coincidence or was it fate?
That is a lot of coincidences in a small space! I don't think I've ever had that many coincidences at one time. When I was in college, I was in a pub in London with my mom and my aunt, and I ran into a guy who was in my French class the semester before at the University of Wisconsin. It was so funny and strange to run into each other across the ocean just a few weeks after our class together had ended. (I guess if we had been in a cafe in Paris, it might not have seemed like such a strange coincidence.)
ReplyDeleteHey that's me, how dare she steal my identity. BUT ALSO, this is actually an insane amount of coincidences at one time?? I don't think I've ever experienced that many with one person or at one time. The most unusual that I've experienced was when I met a girl named also Jessica Sophia and her last name started with a V. It was trippy but not nearly as much as this!
ReplyDeleteWeird. That's like, almost scary. I guess the biggest coincidence I ever had would be when I parked my car, came back and three other cars of exactly the same make, model, and year were next to it. To make matters seriously worse, the license plates all started with N. It took me a while to figure out which was mine, but your story is so much weirder! I would just be freaked out (and probably run) so its cool you actually struck a friendship with this girl.
ReplyDeleteWoah those are a lot of coincidences all at once! I've only ever had small coincidences like wearing the exact same thing as someone else without planning it or seeing a person in two different locations in one day. It was really interesting to hear about your crazy experience with so many coincidences!
ReplyDeleteFreaky! I wonder if she told her friends about the mysteriousness of meeting you? But this post was a good read because it was interesting, but we also got to learn a lot about you (and Jess, I guess).
ReplyDeleteWack. I'm not sure I've ever seen that wild of a coincidence. The closest I have to that was in 3rd grade. I told my teacher where I was going for spring break and she said that she had a friend who lived there. While we were there, we met him completely by coincidence. Stuff like that is fun to talk about and leads to a lot of great conversations (or blog posts I guess).
ReplyDeleteWow what are the odds of that even happening. I would be pretty freaked out if that happened to me. At the same time just thinking about the sheer number of coincidences and the likelihoods of each one blows my mind. I wonder how that compares to the chances of winning the lottery?
ReplyDeleteWoah! First of all, I didn't even know you were in this class, so I have to catch up with all your other blogposts. For me, I always want to believe something isn't a coincidence. I want to believe it was fate and destiny because it makes me feel divine. It's weird. But that's a crazy coincidence that you experienced. I'm blown away!
ReplyDeleteWait I'm shook. There are so many little parts of this story that sound so crazy that I can't really even imagine that happening to me. I hope you keep in contact with her and update us on if you ever meet her again (by coincidence maybe!!!!). Maybe you guys will end up both going to Indiana, or maybe you'll go to different schools but both your roommates end up being each other's best friends from a small town in Kentucky. Honestly someone should take this whole story and write a book on what might happen next... I'd read it!
ReplyDelete