It's a Small,Small World!

Here's a tale for you.

My father an Irishman who migrated to Australia in the 50's was travelling in the Philippines in the 80's. After mass one Sunday a man spoke to him outside. Tell me, he said, you wouldn't happen to come from Belfast? Yes, replied my father. And would your name be O'Doherty? Yes, was the reply. I thought it could be, said the man. I was kneeling behind you and thought: That head reminds me of Gerry O'Doherty who was in my class at school. Gerry is my brother, replied my father. The man had not seen Gerry in something like 30 years.

I had an experience that was almost unnerving in Thailand 2 years ago...

I was staying on the island of Ko Jum, at a little bungalow place. One morning I walked up to the local village to buy some fruit, etc. On my way back, I decided to stray at the very last second and take a different route down the beach instead of the road. As I walked along this beach, I was passing a VERY posh resort (Ko Jum Lodge) I stopped to read the laminated menu that was attached to a post at the entry way to the resort. Just inside this path was the resort's pool. An older lady was sitting by the pool and smiled at me and said "I see you have some nice mangoes".
Instantly recognizing the Canadian accent, I asked her where she was from in Canada.
"Saskatchewan" She replied.
Meh, I thought, no big deal... Thousands and thousands of Canadians in Thailand at any given time and there are going to be lots from Saskatchewan, too.
I am from Saskatchewan, too, so I asked where in SK she was from.
"Saskatoon" she replied.
Again, no big deal, Saskatoon is a city of almost 230,000... There are bound to be a load of them in Thailand, too, at any given time.
I said I was from Saskatoon as well... We both laughed, but never really thought of it as that remarkable.
So, we got to chatting about this resort, how posh it was. Yacked about this and that...

Somehow, we got back to where we were from and she mentioned she was actually originally from a small town just out of Saskatoon... When she mentioned the name, then my heart began to race... I grew up in the next town down the line... Kids from both of these communities go to the same school, so there are both fairly intertwined.
I asked for her name...

"My name is Thelma Richards"

I dropped the mangoes... She is a really good friend of my parents from over the years, but I had never met her or maybe had and had forgotten what she looked like. (You don't see people in bathing suits, sun hats and sun glasses in Canada... Too cold.) I wouldn't have reconized her anyways, I'm sure)

When I mentioned my name, she also became quite excited. We got our picture taken together and I emailed it home that week because I was sure no one would believe it if I told them.

It was quite eerie.

working in a pub in tokyo i have had a few. one of my school mates came in on a business trip from HK.
Another fellow I worked with in Cambodia came in too.
Also met some Japanese water-skiiers who were friends with some pople I'd been friends with for 20 years.
A bloke standing next to me in a pub one day had once played full-forward (aussie football) on a mate of mine- in Saigon.

I was on the way home from Guatemala and made my transfer in Houston Texas...
sitting next to me across the isle was a woman I know from the gym I work out at in our town in Oregon. She was coming home from Mexico. The thing that really made us laugh was that we seem to run into each other at home much more than usual too.

There are bound to be just plain old coincidences but one period in my life I was bombarded by many many coincidences and it really freaked me out, like something was trying to get my attention. It was a life changing experience that opened my mind to the fact that there are simply things we don't about out there.... to be open to the possibilities .

These stories fascinate me...keep 'em coming! Maybe there is truth to the law of attraction. In other words, maybe we do manifest what we are thinking, sort of like creating our own personal reality. Far away from home, lonely, thinking of home...and a stranger from our hometown pops into the scenery.

I had always wanted to find arrowheads and on my hikes through the woods, I would constantly search for them. Frustrated that I was unable to find any arrowheads, (I was looking in places where I was sure there would be some), a friend of mine told me, "You will never find arrowheads by searching for them. They will come to you when you give up the conscious search." Sure enough, when just appreciating the solitary walks through the woods, contemplating on what life would have been like for the ancient ones living in the area, an arrowhead would be at my feet. The law of attraction?

I only wish that it worked that way when I play the lottery! LOL!

There have been quite a few, but the one that sticks in my mind was in Panama. I was sitting in the yacht club pub in Colon, waiting for our turn to go through the canal. I spotted a large yacht with a Canadian flag, and wondered where it was from. A fellow came in, and joined me for a beer. Turned out he was sailing on the yacht, called 'Stitches'. It was owned by a retired doctor, and was crewed by other doctors for short stints on a sailing trip around the world. I asked where he was from:

"Winnipeg.", he said.
I am from Winnipeg, so I asked him the 'Winnipeg Question'.

"What part of Winnipeg are you from?"...
"River Heights", he said.
While I haven't lived in Winnpeg for many years, my parents still did, and so did many members of my family.
"What street", I asked
He named the street next to my parent's, but since he was much younger than me, I asked him his mothers maiden name, and I concluded that:
I had gone to High School with his mother, and he had gone to Univeristy with three of my cousins.

When I was 21, travelling through Europe with two other Canadians, we went to a performance of Aida at the Caracella Baths near Rome. One of them went off at the intermission to get something to eat, and returned with two good looking Canadian guys she had met at the concession stand... One was a friend who lived 8 houses down the street from me. I had no idea he was travelling as well!

Gypsytoes!! so you are going back to Ometepe! for good this time??? what's the plan?

Great stories, Canayun! To make a long, soul searching story shorter...we decided that we want the best of both worlds. We've travelled extensively, trying to find a spot that makes us feel as good as Ometepe, but to no avail. So, we've worked like mad to become debt free, with our Ometepe casa and our house in the states. Ahhh...we have finally met our goal.(Even with a world wide recession!) Next year,(hopefully) we'll take early retirements, rent our house in the states for a year and live on Ometepe. We'd like to live in each place 6 mo. but we have a lot of plans for Ometepe, so it will take at least a year to accomplish them.
At least that's the latest plan....quien sabe? Now, at least I can relax a bit and not work so hard. :-)

I was on a boat out of Brindisi heading to Greece and strolling around the top deck at 2:00am when I bumped (literally) into a woman I had gone to high school with in the States years before. What are the odds?