Inexplicable double-coincidence

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understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

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As a teenager in NJ in 1973, I knew Pat as an adult friend of my parents and frequent home dinner guest. I grew up, off to college, & job in Seattle. In 1983, job sent me to Fort Worth, TX to work at customer site for 2 weeks. That was my only ever customer site visit. My contact at customer site in TX was Bob. Discovered Bob was married to ... Pat, who had divorced & moved. Hadn't thought of Pat in 10 years, assumed she was still in NJ, and hadn't thought of her again after 1983. That's a basic enough coincidence and worthy on its own of your blog here. Good for a smile. Fast forward another 8 years. I've moved to Boston, & then back to Seattle for another new job. First day at new job in Seattle and who occupies the office next to mine but .... Pat, who has moved on again. No fore-knowledge, no connections, no communication, just the odds of coincidence, but the odds of a second once-in-a-lifetime coincidence involving the same person? I've looked for some other causal connection, something to reduce the odds of the 3 connected events, & can find nothing beyond pure chance. So what are the odds, and what might I have missed in finding a more plausible explanation?
Total votes: 252
Date submitted:Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:05:27 +0000Coincidence ID:7213