I Don’t Know How To Explain This

How am I supposed to write an introduction after a title like that? I have no idea. So allow me to fill this first paragraph with words that have nothing to do with the topic I’m about to discuss. That way, it looks legitimate, I look smart, and you look ready to read further. Mission accomplished!

Now that that’s out of the way, I actually have to think of how to word what I want to say.

I once applied for a job, but didn’t hear a response from the company until six months later. Every single day, from the time I applied to the time I heard from them, I couldn’t get the company out of my head. Something in me knew I would hear from them.

Even five months later when there was no response, something kept telling me, “They’re going to send you an email.” And then they did. And then I got the job.

I wasn’t even surprised when I finally heard from them. It was more like, “Yeah, I’ve been expecting this. Ho hum.”

You can call that positive thinking, desperation, a coincidence, or me just getting lucky.

What if I told you that sort of thing happens to me a lot? Not the part where I hear from an employer six months down the road, but the part where I can feel it coming.

Now before you send me off to Hogwarts or a psych ward, just keep reading.

The other night, I attended a hockey game. Earlier that day I came across a photo on social media that I had been tagged in last year. It was a group photo from a camping trip (circa 2012) I had gone on with friends from school. The girl who posted it, lived directly across the hall from me back in 2010.

And that photo had me reminiscing of the good old days and how enjoyable that year was.

Fast forward to the hockey game and who is sitting in my section? The girl who posted that picture. She was there with her brother, who is definitely reading this right now. Hey, Richard!

We hadn’t seen each other since earlier this year and hadn’t spoken in a month or two. Yet there we were sharing laughs during the first intermission because we just so happened to be sitting in the same section. Never mind the fact we attended the same game, but the same section.

Coincidence? Maybe. Probably. I don’t know.

A few days before the hockey game, a person I went to high school with randomly popped up in my head. We weren’t friends, didn’t hang out in the same circles, and never really spoke to each other outside of maybe a couple of words.

Important to note, I finished high school seven years ago.

Back to the hockey game…

As I was returning to my seat after the first intermission, I saw that person from high school walking the other way.

And in my head I said, “Of course I would see them. I was just thinking about them.”

Anyone weirded out yet? Speak now.

The last dream I had before I woke up Wednesday morning was about a picture I had posted on Instagram before I went to sleep. It was a short, two minute dream. It was of me pulling up the Instagram app to see how many likes there were on the photo. In my dream, there were 36 likes.

I woke up, unplugged my phone from the charger, and opened Instagram. I’ll give you one guess as to how many likes were on that photo.

Yup. 36.

Dreams do come true, I guess?

I don’t know how to explain it. Another coincidence?

The other day I was watching an episode of The Office and they made a quick reference to Tonya Harding – the figure skater who’s inner circle hired someone to attack her main competitor.

Later that night, I was reading a book written by a former basketball player. I only read one chapter. In that one chapter, there was a quick reference to Tonya Harding.

Coincidence? I have no clue.

Small things like that happen to me multiple times a week, though. Where I will see “something” for the first time and then within a day or two I’ll see it again somewhere completely unrelated.

And it’s not like, “Oh I saw the number five on my keyboard and then again on my cellphone. Oooohhh freaky!” No. It’s stranger than that.

I only remember that Tonya Harding example because when it happened I decided that enough was enough and I was going to start keeping track of those “incidents” in a note on my phone.

I know, this sounds very weird and most of you are probably lost.

From afar, you can say these things are all coincidences. And sure, they fit the definition. But as the person who experiences them on a regular basis, the word “coincidence” lost its meaning years ago.

Now I sound crazy.

There have been some instances where a name pops into my head – normally of someone I haven’t heard from lately/don’t really talk to – and then in the next couple of days I’ll receive a text or social media comment from them.

What does this all mean? I don’t know. Probably nothing.

I just think it’s cool. It makes me believe that there’s way more to life than our five senses can ever tell us. Maybe it’s a nod from God so I know that He’s watching. I don’t know.

My life just seems to be full of coincidences and situations where my mind just seems to know things before they happen.

All this being said, no, I will not pick your lottery numbers for you.

Has anything I mentioned in this post made you nod your head in a, “Yes, that happens to me too” sort of way?