This was first posted on my Red Room page (Feb. 2013) and  I hope any new Readers will enjoy reading it as much as others did. 

Have you ever encountered a word or a book or a name, several times in the course of 24-hours? I always marvel when this happens to me. One time I encountered the word, insouciance,  not once, not twice, but three times within that same day. Who uses a word like “insouciance?” I had to check the dictionary. Another time I was introduced to a banjo player name “Matthew (Matty) Forbes Jensen.”  That evening at my “Stitch ‘n Bitch” quilters group, I met “Jenny Mathew Forbes.” Dare I go on? The Harley-Davidson service guy’s name is Forrest Matthews. Okay, there’s no “Jensen” or “Forbes” but close enough to give you goose-bumps, right? Besides, what are the chances of hitting “Matthews” three times?

Life can be stranger than fiction. Or, maybe fiction imitates Life in a more exaggerated way because writers like to pluck the best or the worst or the most fascinating bits to tell a more interesting story. I find Life’s coincidences are often the best show-stoppers.

At my dentist, I had skimmed through a foodie magazine and one of the highlights was a seafood chowder with three kinds of fish: basa, halibut and a salmon (coho) along with prawns and scallops. It caught my eye because I liked all of the seafood that was in the chowder. Heading home, I stopped at the bakery to pick up a loaf od crusty Tuscan bread and the person behind the counter was telling the customer that he had used that particular crusty bun with a seafood  chowder he had made the previous night–yep, it was the same 3-fish, prawns and scallop recipe. See, spooky coincidence.

Stopping for gas at my full-service station, the pump-man chatted about the vacation he and his wife were about to embark on–a 14-day Caribbean cruise in sunny climes of shorts, tees and sandals. Picking up my mail, I chatted with the mailman who wore this ear-to-ear grin as he informed me, “I’ll be away with the wife on this 14-day cruise in the Caribbean.”  See, another coincidence.  Maybe he’ll meet up with my pump-man.

And, how about lottery tickets? I buy them occasionally whenever I feel there are “lucky” vibes in the air. The other day I was convinced as this  feeling was so strong I impulsively bought a ticket. My numbers were 6, 13, 22, 27, 34 and 46.  Want to hear the winning numbers? They were unbelievable–7, 14, 21, 26, 35 and 45. Just one number out for each of them. Okay, maybe this one doesn’t really count as coincidence.  I like to think Fate was just having a good laugh!