This is from
Brain Pickings (a truly wonderful e-newsletter):
Writer, artist, and designer Douglas Coupland, whose
biography of Marshall McLuhan remains indispensable, offers a lyrical
meditation on the peculiar odds behind coincidences and déja vus:
I take comfort in the fact that there are two human moments
that seem to be doled out equally and democratically within the human condition—and
that there is no satisfying ultimate explanation for either. One is
coincidence, the other is déja vu. It
doesn't matter if you're Queen Elizabeth, one of the thirty-three miners
rescued in Chile, a South Korean housewife or a migrant herder in Zimbabwe—in
the span of 365 days you will pretty much have two déja
vus as well as one coincidence that makes you stop and say, "Wow, that was
a coincidence."
I am a
real estate agent but I try not to be one of those pop-up agents. That is, an
agent that immediately jumps up every time a buyer calls and wants to see a
property.
Typically,
someone would be parked in front of a listing and they would want to see that
right away. Yup... And I would rush out to meet them.
I did
that for many years. I had nothing better to do and I was hungry for clients.
Okay, so I still do that
sometimes.
Richard called
me one night - he wanted me to show him a property on Weddell Street the next
morning at 8:00 am! I argued that that was too early but he was adamant, so I
caved in.
The next
morning, a bitterly cold morning, while I waited for him outside the condo, I
cursed him and myself - this condo's asking price was $24,500! What was I
thinking, I was tired of all these low priced properties that people were calling
me on, I must move into higher priced homes, etc, etc.
He turned
up, we went into the condo and then he wanted to bring his sister. What! Where
was she and why wasn't she here at 8:00? She was brushing her teeth, but she
was right next door, he would take a few minutes. So he went and got her.
It turned
out that she had just moved down from NJ and he was buying this condo for her.
My heart melted. She looked lost and beaten, and this young man, who was at
least 15 years younger, wanted to give her her own home, and have her living
close to him.
I know...
I still haven't talked about either deja vu or coincidences.
Anyway,
we wrote out an offer and I went away to submit it.
That
afternoon, I was in the Harbison area and went into the mall. Dillard's is a
great store and I wandered in looking for a jacket or top. I settled on a pair
of corduroy leggings in gray. I took it to the counter. The lady there was very
helpful and suggested a few more jackets for me to try on.
I handed
her my business card saying: Are you looking for some real estate?
She took
my card: No... I have my own home, and I don't think I'll move. I'm happy where
I am.
That's
good, I said, where do you live?
Weddell
Street, she said.
What! I
was completely blown away! I put in an offer this morning, I said, on a condo
on Weddell Street!
We
laughed. It turned out that she not only lived in one of those condos, she was
also the President of the HOA!
So...
Have I had my coincidence for the year?
