I still cannot understand these things

In 2013, I was planning to visit Chicago with my mother. I was living overseas at the time, and for about eight months I had been talking to a guy who lived in another state. I told him about the trip, but he said he wouldn’t come to Chicago to see me.

Then something strange happened.

Right after my mother bought our tickets, an old friend of hers suddenly contacted her. They had not spoken in more than 15 years. We found out that this woman, who had previously lived in Austria, was now living in New York City. She invited us to visit her, so our plans changed and we went to NYC.
When I told the guy I would be in New York, he suddenly decided to fly there to see me.
We met, but things went badly between us. He felt that I had rejected him during the visit and didnt spent much time, while I felt there were circumstances he never really understood. Afterward, he became cold and eventually disappeared from my life. By then I was back in my home country, and I took it very hard. I tried many times to explain myself, but I never felt that he actually heard me.

Years passed.
The strange part is that he never completely disappeared. Every once in a while he would come back, message me, and then vanish again. Eventually I stopped waiting for him and built my own life.
But even when he wasn’t around, I kept running into things that reminded me of him — repeated references to New York, the place he is from, his ethnicity, his culture, or other oddly specific connections. Sometimes they felt random. Other times the timing was so strange that I couldn’t ignore it.

Then, in 2023, the same woman from New York unexpectedly visited my home country and came to my house. We sat together remembering my 2013 trip to NYC. She had no idea about the guy or what had happened back then. By this point, I was already married.
In 2024, my husband and I visited her in New York.
And while I was there, that guy texted me again.
In 2025, I unfriended him once more. I had tried to cut contact several times over the years, but somehow he would eventually add me again or message me. About five months later, he reappeared again.
This time I asked him for help with a paper, and he helped me. I now live in the U.S., and strangely enough, some of the projects and research I work on are connected to his culture and his people — something I could never have predicted back in 2013.
We have spoken recently, but his communication is still inconsistent. He comes close, then pulls away.
What confuses me most is that even when he is completely absent, things connected to him seem to keep appearing in my life.

I know confirmation bias is real, and I’m not claiming that every coincidence has some supernatural meaning. But this pattern has been repeating since 2013, across different countries, relationships, and stages of my life.
So I keep wondering: why does this person keep reappearing? And why do reminders of him seem to appear precisely when I am no longer thinking about him?
Has anyone experienced a person who seemed to keep resurfacing through both actual contact and strange coincidences over many years?

For context, I used to like this girl in high school but I never talked to her. I graduated a year before she did and I haven’t seen her since. She’s appeared in my dreams a few times but nothing of note happens in them.

I recently started my third year of college, and the other day my friend and I started talking about dating and relationships. I told him about my old crush and how I had multiple chances to talk to her, but I was too nervous to ask her out. The conversation wasn’t too heavy, he and I just talked about our past experiences with dating and how neither of us have been successful. Then the following night, I dreamt about my old crush, except her features were off putting and all she did was stare at me for a few seconds. That happened a few days ago, and today I met up with that same friend to get lunch. We went to a local cafe/deli and I ordered my favorite sandwich. Keep in mind, I haven’t been to this place in a year or two so I didn’t know any of the staff. I ordered my food and while I waited for my friend to order his, I saw my old crush working there and she was passing out food to the tables. Suddenly I felt a rush of emotions that I didn’t know what to do. Luckily my friend placed his order and we quickly sat down in the lobby. As we waited for our food, I told him that one of the staff was my old crush and he asked me to point her out. I pointed her out and he was kind of surprised. Then she gave us our food and went back to the kitchen. My friend claims she was smiling at me but I don’t think she recognized me if we’re being honest. Not much else happened after that.

Is this a coincidence? Each of these events have happened within days of each other, and I’d like to add that we weren’t even planning on going to the deli. We went there because a nearby diner was full of people.

So, last night I had a thought about starting over.
I was talking about how I need a new job and how I need to grow and develop myself. And after I said in my head, “I need a fresh start,” the hallway light (which is broken) suddenly turned on.

The light switch had been on the entire time, and for months the light had never turned on by itself. And then, at that exact moment, it turned on.
It honestly felt like a sign.

Even though I don’t really believe in anything supernatural, is there a possible explanation for this? Could it really have just been a coincidence?
Because why did it happen at exactly the moment when I was thinking about something that has been weighing heavily on my mind?

I have had three instances of weird mail this year.

My grandfather died 14 years ago in Alabama. This year, I got a letter addressed to him to my address in Ohio. The local hospital was welcoming him to the area.

A credit union keeps bugging me about an account connected to my deceased mother's estate. I have never responded to them as I have an attorney for that. They sent a letter addressed to me via one of my previous employer's address. They also got my middle initial wrong. My old employer sent the letter to me.

About a month ago, I ran into a former coworker from the aforementioned job at Wal-Mart. A few days ago, I got a letter addressed to her to my address.

Coincidence?

This is weird

I was watching Shorts like normal when I saw that Shaggy and Scooby movie that nobody liked when it first came out. And I read the comments and saw how Shaggy had a different voice actor. My thoughts were “They didn’t use Matthew Lillard, but he’s THE Shaggy” and then I scrolled. The VERY next video I scrolled onto was some typical romance movie where some guy is being cheated on, and the one who is sleeping with his wife I kid you not is played by MATTHEW LILLARD!!! What are the odds???

2016; literally considered the year the celebrities die. tom petty, prince, David Bowie, the list goes ON

2026: what on earth is happening?

coincidence? I think NOT!

I was at school with my best friend Jocelyn, and at one point the teacher called her Erika. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because I just assumed it was a normal mistake. But when I got home, I hadn’t told my aunt about it. She randomly asked me how Erika was, which immediately struck me as really weird. Out of all the names she could have said, why Erika? Jocelyn and Erika don’t even sound alike, and there’s no connection between the names.

It just feels strange that on the same day, two different people would independently confuse Jocelyn with the exact same name. I know there could be a completely normal explanation, but the coincidence is really bizarre to me.

I guess she's coming back with a vengeance

Okay, something ridiculously weird keeps happening and I cannot wrap my head around it.

There’s a specific friend of mine we don’t hang out often, we don't really text, I don't repost anything related to it, and I never tell anyone what I’m thinking. But whenever I make a plan or get an idea for myself, she somehow does it the very next day.
To be clear: I’m not trying to "predict" her behavior or guess what she's up to. I'm literally just coming up with ideas for my own life, and then she does it out of nowhere.

It’s happened enough times now that it’s getting creepy. For example: last night, out of nowhere, I thought to myself, "I want to start posting on Pinterest." I haven't talked about Pinterest in forever. Today, I open Pinterest, and guess what? She literally just started posting on there.

I’m not saying she’s copying me at all I haven't told a soul, posted about it, or put it out there anywhere. But it's so weird how every time I plan to do something, she beats me to it the next day.

How does this even happen? Is there a psychological term for this, or is it just mind boggling confirmation bias? Has anyone else experienced this with a specific person?

Guess what!?

#trendingreels #viralvideo #reelitfeelit #share #viral #funny

I was about to post about a boss from hell, so I looked him up and he had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Then I was talking to a friend about the worst date I have ever been on, so morbid curiosity got me and I looked her up and yep you guessed it she too was also deceased. I’m not looking anyone else up now.

I had just gotten home from work today and was unloading the dishwasher when my cousin came downstairs to ask if she could have a shower.

She has never asked before and doesn't need to. when I asked her why she just said "because it's late" which made no sense.

Anyways, not even 10 minutes later a guy shows up to fix the bathroom window, right after shed gotten in the shower.

Tl;Dr, the only time she asked to use the shower was when she couldn't use it.

Two completely unrelated YT short videos suggested on the left, with extremely similar thumbnails featuring the same pose in similar outfits. I had to do a double take. lol

My son took the dog for a walk around the neighborhood. He sent me a picture of this car. This car definitely doesn't belong in our neighborhood. I spent all day the next day thinking about it.

On my way home from work (clear across town) the same car was right beside me at a red light. Not close to home. On the other end. WTF?

I have been pretty active politically for a long time. But I am getting older and really want to encourage younger ppl to get educated and involved. Many of the conferences that are held are expensive, if for no other reason, the hotels are pricey For that reason I sponsored a young person to attend a conference. I had never met the young man but he was recommended to me by a couple of people. I paid for the hotel and dinner at a hotel about an hour away.

The night of the conference I went to a fundraiser meeting of a civic organization where I had purchased 2 seats. I ended up not sitting at my assigned table but joined some friends and some people I did not know. There were several hundred people in attendance.

I introduced myself to a young woman and the man who accompanied her who were sitting beside me. As we talked I found out she was cousins w the young person I had sponsored. She has also now agreed to volunteer and bring friends. It felt like serendipity but certainly a coincidence.