I felt like I had to poop, and when I got to the toilet it actually happened

That's a shitty example of a coincidence..

so here is a small world, one of my regular customers at my part time job is a Ret. JAG judge his last case before retiring was going to have you has the lawyer but your client went AWOL.

Small world indeed. That was a tragic case ... :(

Back in 77 I enlisted in the US Army, took basic training and AIT at Fort Knox Kentucky. Half a dozen of those guys in my bacic unit went to the same AIT class as track vehicle mechanics 63c, of those we all were sent to different units around the country. I serve three years during peacetime and got out to pursue growing my hair and listening to rock and roll music.
In 1987, back when I had taken a job in Washington to recable all of Boeing's facilities, while attending the first meeting of all the workers I noticed a goofy looking guy and I thought no, no way that this would be the Rick Schroder from basic training and AIT. I walked over and introduced myself, he said hey you ole son of a b**** and right then I knew it was him. What are the odds that a motor pool monkey would wind up as a telephone cable splicer like me?

After I injured my back in 04 I was sent to be retrained as a cad drafter spscc in Olympia. 49 years old and going back to school was really hard on me because I didn't remember very much from school back in the day. So I was in a study group for math, algebra to be precise. This one guy that I'd been BSing with having a smoke before the study session walks into the room, he was the tutor.
Big friggin dude, late 30's and cussed like a sailor so we got along great. During our time in the group we had lots to discuss especially freaking algebra, I had taken it before in high school but failed miserably and was put in a geometry class to get the credit. During one of our BS smoking sessions we talked about or Army careers, where we were trained and our duty stations. Come to to find out that we were both stationed at Fort Carson Colorado, 10 years to the month apart. I was a Grease Monkey mechanic in an infantry unit and on the other side of the fence was a tanker unit. I told him that they had caused us major problems by throwing beer bottles and trash into the back of our deuce-and-a-half and 5 ton trucks that were backed up to the fence. He laughed, he laughed again and he could almost not keep a straight face and told me that that still happens when he was there from August 1987 to August 1990. Grunts at treadheads don't get along. What are the odds?

Love the stories. Keep them coming.

Back in my very small private college, I went off campus my Junior year, and returning to campus the next semester I was totally randomly assigned (and looking back, probably alphabetically assigned) a random roommate. Keep in mind by senior year, there was risk because probably nearly everyone had selected their roommates so there was a small pool of folks who were in the "unassigned roommate" category.

To maintain some anonymity, I'll not use my real name but an illustrative similar name for the purpose of this story. I'll call myself Tim Cool.

Well, the housing office "randomly" or probably alphabetically, grabbed the next person who (for reasons I don't remember) didn't have a roommate.

I was notified my roommate's name was Tim Cooler!

Same first name. Same last name, except "er" at the end.

WTF are the odds of that, and the fact it was so funny as an ongoing running joke...

[Yes, it did occur to us that the housing office did this on purpose for a laugh, but there might have truly been a random or alphabetical nature - but I have never met anyone with a similar uncommon name like mine other than my roommate].

I didn't know Steve Pool was a member here!

Dad's name was Donald Michael.... he (re) married a woman name Donna Michelle...

I've seen people I haven't seen for years in random places. Airports typically. Imagine meeting an aunt you haven't seen or heard from in many years from a different state on a trail out in middle of nowhere. We were oddly flabbergasted.

Also odd, wife and I have both lost our wedding rings in the same house.

Here is a dose of Irony/Coincidence...

I worked for a car lot back when I was 16 with a couple buddies from school washing cars, and the Sales manager there was a complete douche bag. Was rude to all of us "lot rats" as he called us, and was a walking HR nightmare. Fast forward to about 10 minutes ago, I get a text from one of those buddies who now runs a large shipping center by me and he says guess who just applied for my warehouse shipping position @ $15 per hour. That old sales manager, he then asked if I wanted to come over and sit in on the interview. I'm so damn tempted to make a drive over and take him up on his offer.

Karma.

.

I grew up not knowing who my father was. Long story, but that's the short version. Anyway, onto the coincidence. Around 2009 or 2010, living in State T and stationed at Ft. ABC, I was more curious and did a lot of research and found a man named D who had been in my mom’s life consistently for about 5 years before and 5 years after my birth. He was the only man around, and odds are good he was my dad. He was a handsome lady’s man who liked motorcycles and heavy drinking, and kind of a rough neck. I can understand why my mom might shield herself and me from him, if he were my dad.

I learned he passed around 2005 or 2006, but tracked down his two biological kids, R and S. So I contacted them I believe on Facebook. Some time went by, perhaps a month. I got TDY orders to go to a Army training course in Melbourne, Florida. I think it was a 1-week course. One night in my hotel room, I got a message from Mr. R. He was skeptical, but we talked a bit. I explained I was no longer living in our original home state M, I was stationed in state T, and TDY that week in Melbourne Florida. His response? He lived in Melbourne! I honestly did not even know that and fully expected he lived in our home state M. We agreed to meet and within an hour were sitting face to face having a beer at Hooters. Really nice guy. Learned we grew up in neighboring towns, and he's a few years older than me. We discussed a DNA test, but have never gotten around to it. Kept in touch. Fast forward to 2011, I got orders to JBLM Washington state. Then around 2015 or so, R's wife got a job transfer to from Florida to, you guessed it, Seattle Washington. So they moved here and we’ve reconnected several times for dinners and hanging out, etc. Now, what are the odds of either of those events?!?!?

In summary:
1. We possibly have the same father
2. We grew up probably 30 minutes apart.
3. Due to my renewed interest and research, I located him. Random life events took me to Melbourne Florida and he contacted me the 1 and only week I was there in my life. It was where he lived!
4. Both his wife and I were fairly randomly moved by our work across country to within about 1-hour apart.

I went to college in the mid-west. Freshman year, I made good friends with this girl Megan. We never dated. Over time, we drifted apart. Still on friendly terms, but life took us in radically different directions and we lost touch after college. She settled down, got married, had kids, etc. I moved 2000 miles away out west and lived in city ABC. Later I joined the Army and moved all around.

Over a decade after college, I was living far away from city ABC and about to deploy to Iraq. I returned to city ABC for leave and to see my old friends before deployment. We were at a restaurant in a relatively busy city, when in walks - you guessed it - my old college friend Megan from the mid-west. Over a decade later. I was floored to see her! We caught up for a few minutes.

Another decade later, I went on a vacation to Napa Valley. When I returned, I posted a few pictures on social media. Turns out, Megan was also in Napa Valley that same weekend and we visited some of the same basic spots! Neither of us live near Napa Valley, and it's air-travel to get there for both of us... while not impossible odds, it's still remarkable. Had we actually ran into each other, it would have been totally unbelievable.

I cannot put my finger on why, but I have something with my internal clock and looking at clocks. I've never been able to piece together any pattern. But I am extremely intuitive about time and can generally guess within 10 minutes of the day what time it is, even if I wake up from a nap or should not have any idea. I have at times been able to look at a clock and it is exactly or nearly exactly the time I expect - even if I wake up from sleeping.

One story with an example is that I've forgotten now, but probably have it recorded in a diary, what time it was. But I remember being in college my Freshman year. I was never a restless sleeper in my youth and slept hard thru the night. On that particular night, I woke up early (let's say for the purpose of this, 3:30am). And I looked at the clock. I went back to sleep. Later that day, I got a phone call from home and my grandmother passed over the night at - you guessed it - the exact time I awoke and looked at my clock. Spooky coincidence, huh?

I recently dated a woman with the birth date March 8 (03/08). She relayed to me that she routinely, spookily, sees 308 everywhere (clocks, number combinations, etc.). For a gift I made a .308 cartridge into a key chain for her. :)

Flashback to 2002, I went with a buddy to the Seahawks vs. Eagles in the then-new Seahawks Stadium. As many of us do, I had entered the stadium already in a state of mild intoxication and proceeded to immediately enhance the effect with further beverages.

Eagles star QB Donovan McNabb was hurt and so was his backup, Koy Detmer, so in stepped Oregon native A.J. Feely. When Feely's name was announced, I blurted out to my friend (and anyone else within earshot), "Who in the hell is A.J. Feel Me?"

An older gentleman in the row in front of me turned around, looked at me, and said, "It's Feely."

Cut to the third quarter, and I could see a camera crew heading our way with a reporter I didn't recognize. The crew stopped and the female reporter started talking with the older man right in front of me.

He was A.J. Feely's dad, there with most of his family and lots of friends. I had insulted his family name and he'd taken it surprisingly well.