Married, I have become a part of a large family. This family is so much more tightly woven and interconnected than the one I was born into as to seem alien to me. In fact, the family is so big that coincidences happen that seem like, well, fate. When my wife’s cousin (who also shares her name) opted to move to AZ, it mirrored the move back to Des Moines of my brother in law and his wife. As one leaf of family falls away, one springs up to replace it.
It is in this way that I discovered the curious coincidence filled realm that AZ appears to be. Case #2: I go to a bday party for my 5 yr old’s friend and 3 of my neighbors are at the party. How is this a coincidence? Never had the 5 yr old’s dad mentioned my block, my hood or knowing anyone therein, despite conversations about where we live.
Case #3 is a milder case. At a skating arena in Chandler we run headlong into a girl from my eldest’s class at his old school. The oddness is that we were at the arena at a party for another former classmate, and this girl who knew them both, no longer attended school with either of them and knew nothing of the party. She just happened to be there and wound up eating cake.
These are small and interesting coincidences that can be chalked up to nearly anything. I like to think they are part of the weirdness that is Arizona. I mean, it happens all the time here.