Another interesting coincidence: a lot of these stories have to do with Germany for some reason.
You’re definitely going to be googling the invisible string theory after reading their stories.
“I always knew that my father had been married and gotten divorced years before he met my mom.
Anonymous
2.
“When my nephew was young, he was always playing with the house phone.
My nephew had randomly rang their number!”
“I’ve got a couple.
She was from London.
About a year later, I bumped into her at a parachute center in Cape Town.
Turns out, he was the man my dad bought his camera from all those years previously in Aden.
He even had a copy of the RAF News cover with him!”
chrisives
4.
Later in life, she decided to take a DNA test to learn more about her heritage.
He lives in California and we live in Pennsylvania.
“About 15 years ago, I was working as a dancer at a gentlemen’s club.
Turns out he was my aunt’s boss about four states away.
I said, ‘Wow, small world!’
We had a nice giggle about it.
Then, when I went on stage, he tipped me rather generously and said, ‘Hush money!’
My aunt never found out.”
His grandma said to him, ‘Jacob, that’s not nice.
We don’t do that.’
Then, I hear, ‘Jacob, we don’t do that.
That’s not nice.’
What are the odds Jacob is still messy?”
We both happened to be studying abroad, albeit on different continents, and drunk in dirndls."
“Im from a small province in the east coast of Canada.
I moved across the country to a small town in the mountains.
Then, I started dating a guy and moved to the city that he was born in.
His friends helped us move into our apartment, and his friend’s mom came to say hi.
We got to chatting, and it turns out shes from the same town that Im from.
She asked me, ‘Do you know so-and-so?’
and I said, ‘Yes, thats my mom.’
Turns out they had worked together for years and were friends before the other moved away.”
mysa
10.
“My first wife and I were spending the Christmas weekend in NYC in 1994.
So, Christmas Day, we were in the deli at Rockefeller Center for lunch.
I asked where they were from, and they said my hometown in Texas.
I told them, ‘Me too, originally.’
I asked if they knew anyone from a specific company.
One of them said, ‘Yeah, I know the guy who owns it.
I said that he was my brother-in-law.
Then the man said, We go to church with your parents.'”
jamesc420ce9ec1
11. and he had been the person who went down there to shut it down!
I had no idea."
aarushiahluwalia1331
12.
“I moved to Texas about a year ago and had started virtual therapy appointments.
Anyway, I was out of town traveling for a family wedding and was out sightseeing with my aunt.
But, I looked behind us and texted her.
Turns out it WAS her.
I still can’t get over that.”
smanthagram
13.
“My late husband spent 28 years not knowing his father.
“Here’s where the ‘it’s a small world’ stuff starts.
He grew up not having a big family, just his mom and siblings really.
Tragically, a year and a half after meeting them, my husband passed away.
But, everyone’s life was made better from that one Myspace message.”
But, not about switching rooms.
sambro777
15.
“I (41F) am currently having a ‘small world’ experience.
So, my last birthday, I went into town for drinks with my friend.
On our way to a bar, we came across a guy who was flat-out on the pavement.
Paramedics arrived and we carried on with our night.
This weekend, he (45M) found me on a dating site.
We met today for lunch.
We get on like a house on fire and it feels like we’ve known each other forever.
He has asked me to move in with him, as he says I’m his angel.
I believe everything he says.
Fate works in mysterious ways.”
jealoussundae50
16.
“This is my dad’s story.
We thought this was pretty cool.”
luckyscissors50
17.
I moved states a few years later.
I ended up going to college in my new state, and she ended up being at my school.
Not only that, she started dating and married a guy I was classmates with.”
robert_dunder
18.
“I’m an American.
When I was 16, I visited Germany with my family.
A girl behind me (probably mid-to-late-20s) helped me translate and then helped me pick out coins.
She spoke perfect English without even a trace of an accent.
We got to talking details, and it turns out that she actually studied in my state.
At my high school.
And lived with my (at the time) boyfriend’s family.
The random lady in line behind me at the register!”
“I joined the Air Force in 2012 and got out in 2018.
We’re all about a year apart.
Also, I had a classmate from my brother flight that joined the same time as me.
It’s a very small world.”
jordanjyoudan
20.
“I flew midweek to Atlanta.
Im a teacher and was on medical leave.
I got closer and realized it was one of my students standing there charging his phone.
I called out his name and he looked as surprised to see me as I was him.
I asked what he was doing here on a weekday.
He was in town early for a relatives birthday party over the coming weekend.
We said our farewells and I walked away thinking, ‘How the heck did that just happen?'”
One day, I open my messenger app to find a message and a picture from her.
“Last November, I obtained a new retail sales job.
I was sent a few hours away for a one-week sales training they called ‘new hire.’
During the first hour, on the first day, it was my turn to introduce myself.
He even took a picture of it so he could always tell the story.
“I texted him about the unbelievable coincidence.
He proceeded to text me a picture he had taken from his phone.
wickedjaguar73
23.
“I recently found out that my coworker and I are distantly related!”
“My friend’s older sister was getting married, and I was invited to the wedding.
Later, I found out that the sister was my cousin’s roommate in college!”
“I was a zip line tour guide in Maui.
Driving up the mountain one day with my guests, I asked where everyone was from.
A woman said a small town in Northern California.
Being from the Bay Area, I asked which one.
She said Red Bluff.
I told her I had family in Red Bluff.
This reconnected them after nearly 50 years!”
nessawillson
26.
“Back in 2002, my boyfriend at the time and I were in London for a few days.
We went to see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.
There was a line that moved slowly but steadily through the part of the Tower where the jewels are.
It was his first cousin!
“There was a new girl who started at my company and we instantly clicked.
It turns out hes her boyfriend now.
It was wild because she didnt even go to the same school as us.
The school was also in a completely different area from where we worked.
We joke about it now all the time.”
“I left my small hometown in Florida and went to Alabama for vet school.
I became best friends with one of my classmates and was invited to be a bridesmaid in her wedding.
I asked where, and he mentioned MY SMALL HOMETOWN.
I ask him what part of town, and he said MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
He then gave me his old street number and name.
He lived right next to me literally my next-door neighbor for years!
Then, I met his wife, and she recognized me.
Apparently my friend used to come down and visit all the time.
We potentially even played together as little kids.
She and I are still absolutely shook.
Small world after all!”
She asked where my condo was located, so I gave her a brief, but vague, description.
Yes, she lived in the same exact unit I currently live in.
My condo is painted very fun colors in each room, which was her work!
It was then that he noticed my friends shirt, which had our school name on it.
This is a small school of maybe 6,000 students, so not super well-known outside the area.”
“He asked if we went there, and we said yes, we did.
He asked if we knew this one person, and sure enough, my friend did!
“I got married back in September and a bunch of family came from out of town.
My uncle hadnt been there in about 20 years, and my aunt had never been.
Everyone involved was totally baffled.”
marthalbruce
32.
“I traveled to a different state for a family reunion via plane.
Picked up rental car with my parents.
My dad was driving and he got caught speeding.
He got pulled over, and it turns out the officer was related to us somehow.
He let my dad go!”
“For the first 30 years of my life, I lived on Long Island inNew York.
Year 30, I moved to western Washington.
At around year 15 in western WA, I was a new employee working for the Seattle parks department.
We were driving around to see the area my crew covered.
We stopped at a pond where parents and children were waiting for the bus.
A woman ran up and called my sister’s name.
My sister is four years younger.
We looked identical in our late teens.
Through the years, we have been called twins.
This woman remembered my sister from high school (over 20 years ago).
They were not the best of friends.
The woman sat behind my sister in class.
The woman said my sister was nice.
Yes, she is.
“In 1995, just out of college, I visited Ireland.
We started chatting, and she asked me where I was from.
I replied it was a small town in Southern California she never would’ve heard of.
She asked for the name, so I told her.
She flipped out, saying her ex-boyfriend from college was from there, and asked if I knew him.
It turned out to be someone I’d known since elementary school.
Her parents came to visit for Christmas, and we spent the day together.
She knew the name of my tiny hometown.
I had never met her, and I havent seen her since.
In fact, they are missionaries in Eastern Europe.
I couldnt believe that our paths crossed when and where they did.”
“Several years ago, my husband and I stayed at a beautiful castle in Tuscany.
When I said yes, he said that someone on the bus knew me.
She came out of the bus and ran over to give me a hug.
As they say atDisney, ‘It’s a small world after all.'”
“I grew up in a small town in Canada.
After university, I moved overseas to Korea, to a smaller city neighboring Seoul.
Both of us froze and stared at each other.
She had also come into Seoul for a weekend night out!
“I live in Wolverhampton, England, but work in travel, so Im often in London.
He asked me whereabouts I was from, due to my strong regional accent.
zakmason94
39.
“I grew up in a very small town in the country.
We were literally stationed a thousand miles away from home.
What made it even more interesting: We found out our grandmothers were friends.
Keep in mind our families never really met prior to our wedding.
My mother-in-law then proceeded to tell me a story about my grandmother and my husband.
Just a little background, my grandmother is known in our family for being a little witchy/psychic.
She was known for predicting pregnancies and gender reveals, among other things.
My MIL then proceeded to tell me how my grandmother met my husband when he was a newborn.”
She then gifted him a little blanket.
Flash forward 20 years, and my husband and I tied the knot.
Later, we moved in with my witchy grandmother.
During that time, she was suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s.
My grandmother has since passed away.
I miss her all the time.
I look back and think my grandmother was magically laying the groundwork for us to find each other.
We have been happily married for 24 years.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much abuelita.
Talk about a small world and weird coincidences.”
Notes: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
