So, about a year ago I wrote how I randomly met a guy from my hometown and what an unbelievable crazy coincidence it was.
Well, I got a story that can top it now.
A few weeks ago I was talking to my mom and she mentioned she ran into an old neighbor. The neighbor asked her what her kids were up to an my mom told her I was in China. “Jimmy is also in China,” the former neighbor replied.
Jimmy is a boy I used to babysit when I was about 10-11 years old. He was a few years younger than me, had a younger sister and lived just down the street from us. My brother and I would babysit for them often.
But we moved out of the neighborhood when I was about 12 and despite growing up in the same town, I never saw them again. Jimmy was four grades lower than me, and we never attended the same school at the same time.
But thanks to modern technology I looked him up on Facebook (as me and my mom were skyping) and friend requested him. I was a little worried he wouldn’t remember me in all honesty. It was decades ago, and I have very few memories of him (and I was the older one).
But turns out he did remember me (he said me and my bro were his favorite babysitters, ha!) and not only that he would be in Hangzhou the following weekend. So friday night we met and spent our reunion at KTV. While it was loud and crazy we managed to do a 30-second summary of our lives and chat between songs.
Even better, because he’s close to my age, we got to sing some classics I usually never get to do because people think they are “too old” or don’t know it. We sang Soundgarden, Men at Work, Bowie, Billy Joel and even crooned out The Lady’s a Tramp by Sinatra. It was pretty awesome.
It was truly an insane coincidence. And it shows a part of “magical living” in China. If I ran into Jimmy in America it would be a little crazy. If I ran into him in my hometown, it would be a funny coincidence. Or if I ran into him in Boston, or LA, it would be pretty crazy, but not insane or mind-blowing. But meeting him in China? Where we both live?! INSANE!
You could easily use the word fate or destiny (in the non-romantic sense) to describe it. It’s shows you how small the world really is. It becomes more than just a meeting between old friends but something more profound.
It’s funny because as my favorite students graduated I lamented to them many times that I would never see most of them ever again. I was trying to teach them the realities of life, that life always pushes you forward and you need to be realistic and not delude yourself that you’ll be with these people forever.
And then I go and have an experience like that. Guess life had another lesson for me: you never know what’s gonna happen in the future. Expect anything.
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