... maybe both.
In 1970 when I was 10, my best friend and I started collecting coins. My dad knew a man in town that had a really nice collection and got us invited over to take a look and maybe learn more about the hobby. A few days later dad said that Mr. "Smith" found some coins missing and was sure we took them. My father knew my friend and I wouldn't take something that didn't belong to us.
My mother married a real piece of work after my dad died. He loved her money and promised he wouldn't elect against her will. She wasn't dead two hours before he no longer knew me. Because of Ohio's law, one can elect against the will. (Why even have one, Ohio?) he was allowed to live in the house my dad built for one year after my mom's death. When he moved out, he took everything I didn't list by name in her assets. Apparently, 'misc' things such as pots and pans don't exist.
I was staying with friends on the outskirts of Manchester on a fairly large estate. We went shopping and on the way back were stuck behind a bald headed old gentlemen in a red Avenger doing about 3 miles an hour with no way to pass. After 10 minutes or so he turned off leaving us highly stressed. On arriving back I told Sue about our frustration and the old gentleman in the red Avenger, she turned round and said, Oh so you have met my father then!
I do not live or work in London so a visit is rare. When I was a boy I saw the news of JFK's death whilst walking across Westminster Bridge, some years later Robert Kennedy died and again I saw the news walking across Westminster bridge !
Last year, I was traveling with my family through a small town, which I had never visited. Looking out the window, I saw a building that looked identical to a tavern I had dreamed of earlier that week. The dream was so vivid and my recollection matched the place we were driving through perfectly. I sat perplexed and in awe, but only for a moment.
Sometimes a wedding is the only thing that can bring together estranged family members and old friends. This was the case for my grandfather and my husbands grandfather. As soon as they saw each other at the ceremony, they realized they had worked together (across the country) in the early 60's, and hadn't seen each other since.
My wife and I grew up in the same area but went to different schools. We met by being introduced by friends when we were aged 23. The first coincidence is that we were both randomly selected by our schools to sing in the school choir and then ended up singing at the royal festival hall in London on the same night. We know this because both of our mothers still have the program's with our names on it. Secondly, When I was about 8 years my mother took my sister and I shopping.
I had bought a pie for PI Day, which I was celebrating at school on 3/8/13 and not 3/14/13, because 3/14/13 is on spring break, and PI is about 3.14, so PI Day is on 3/14, but at home I found out the expiration date was 3/14/13, PI Day.
I get in my Jacuzzi tub most nights to unwind and usually find myself humming or singing the refrains to a popular song over and over. One night it was "Pinball Wizard" from The Who. I got out of the tub, walked into the bedroom and turned on the TV. It was a show about the world's only known pinball savant. He was often referred to as the pinball wizard. I often feel strong coincidences are signs from a higher power. I was shaken.
