Lately, I have been experiencing that spooky connection between strangers.
The most recent was at an Australia Day presentation, where I was seated between two strangers. Turn left to stranger number one (a finalist in the awards) and it turned out I used to date his brother. Turn right to stranger number two and we knew about a trillion people in common.
And then, I met Geoff while on holidays in Papua New Guinea . He was from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, so I asked if he had ever come across my cousin, who also lives there. He hadn’t just met them. He worked with them.
This is cha-ching moment stuff. And even more so when it happens at a funeral. Fresh home from PNG, the funeral was awash with blasts from my past. I had known the person since birth but there were plenty of people there as yet unmet.
The allure of the view drew myself and one woman together. And those bells just kept on chiming. At the end of 10 minutes, we knew about five people in common. At 20 minutes, the figure had doubled and after 30 minutes, the names were just rolling out along.
She had lived near me as a child and attended the same schools. Her boyfriend at the time was my friend’s older brother. Her cousin was in my class. The coincidences were as inevitable as rain on a cloudy day. I revelled in being where I felt I was meant to be.
-Linda Muller
