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What's your most profound "small world" moment? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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This refers to when two or more people encounter each other in completely coincidental fashion. You might notice your old classmate from three countries away is now your waiter in a place you had no reason to expect them in, and you might say "wow, what a small world". You might notice two people who you know from completely different spheres miraculously know each other. You might recognize by chance that your penpal has made a cameo at a venue you're at.

But what was your most profoundly coincidental encounter?

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

My parents emigrated separately in the 1950s from a large city in Europe to Australia.

My mother didn’t know anyone in Australia and went to stay with her sister (who had previously immigrated) until she could find somewhere to live.
My father went to stay with his best friend (who had previously immigrated) until he could find somewhere to live.
Coincidence 1 That friend had been the best friend of my mother’s older brother back in their city of origin
Coincidence 2 My parents grew up around the corner from each other in their city of origin, within a few hundred metres of each other. They went to the same school, knew the same teachers, but had never met
Coincidence 3 My parent’s fathers worked at the same company and were friends at work, but didn’t socialise together outside of work

There were 3 ways my parents could have met each other, but they didn’t meet until they moved to the other side of the world, when they discovered that they had so much in common.