Research shows we are disproportionately impressed by coincidences
that occur in our own lives. One study found that people are surprised
when they see their birthdays in a list of dates. While we are enthralled
with our own stories, the tales of others don't necessarily resonate.
Here are four that may:
To graduate from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, Erica Lindberg
Gourd had to write a thesis. Although Scandinavian history had never been
a household interest in her family, she chose to study how the Vikings
became a peace-loving people. The subject took her to the Ohio State
University library, where she found a useful document that answered many
of her questions. A student at the University of Stockholm had written
his doctoral thesis about Swedish history 50 years earlier--that student
was John Lindberg, Erica's grandfather.
Toby Bilanow's father was gravely ill. Toby, his two brothers and
his sister gathered at their childhood home to be with him. That week the
siblings combed the house for old family photographs and mementos. Toby
discovered his own long-lost birth certificate. He noted that he was born
at 4:13 a.m., December 5, 1958. Five days later, Toby's father died--at
4:13 a.m., December 5, 2003.
Some years ago, Claire Halberstam took a trip to Manhattan from her
home in Brooklyn. At the end of the day, she stood at the subway kiosk
and opened her purse to buy a token. Her wallet was missing. Now she was
stranded. In a panic, she ran back up to the street for a breath of fresh
air. She saw a cab, whose driver was dropping off his last passenger of
the day. "She was beyond shock that the cabbie was my father," says her
daughter Yitta, who was so moved by the story that she included it in her
book Small Miracles for Women. (Her parents have both passed
away.)
Recently divorced, Kathy Lord of New York City joined friends on a
weekend getaway in their northern Connecticut country house, which was
soon to be rented out. Over supper, the friends mentioned that a
prospective renter sounded like a catch. They hadn't met him, but the
realtor described him as "single, tall, good looking; he rides a bike and
he's compulsively neat," says Lord. "I just knew he was my ex-husband."
The friends didn't think that was possible. But when they called on the
realtor, they found out that the renter was indeed Lord's ex.
Tags:
birth certificate,
breath of fresh air,
cabbie,
childhood home,
coincidence,
college in gambier ohio,
doctoral thesis,
family photographs,
gourd,
halberstam,
john lindberg,
kenyon college,
mementos,
ohio state university,
ohio state university library,
pattern-seeking,
probability,
scandinavian history,
small miracles,
state university library,
swedish history,
university of stockholm,
weekend getaway
