Was it a Coincidence?

In the summer of 1999 (can't remember the exact year after so many trips) I made one of many trips to the Philippines.  During that time I lived on the U.S. territory of Guam which is only a three or four hour flight away.  The plane landed in Manila and my friend Danny picked me up and we drove two hours to Angeles City.  I spent the night over Danny's house that night.

In the morning, Danny and I decided on having a huge party.  Before we left, I asked Danny if he planned on locking his door.  He said, "No, your suitcase will be fine."  So we went downtown to buy a lot of food.  Upon returning we saw a guy leaving his place (looking like Santa) carrying a bag over his shoulder.  Put it this way, he wasn't delivering gifts.  He was taking them!  Anyone, we have a fantastic party.  I never saw so many women in my life.  Sorry for the diversion, let me get on with the story.

During my 14 days there I mainly just bar hopped, played chess and drank ice tea.  Ma sarap!  (Tastes good!)  Late one afternoon I was just hanging out, outside of a small resturant.  I heard someone saying, "Paul, Paul, Paul!"  I thought, maybe I was hearing things.  Until I looked it saw my friend, Bob approaching.  We worked together in Korea in 1997 where we first met.  It seemed like such a coincidence that we would meet in this small part of the world.  I suppose the story could stop here, because this is strange enough by itself when you think about it, but it gets deeper than this.

Bob and I exchanged greetings and he said something like this, "Paul, this is my last night in country.  I was here hoping to meet a woman and it just didn't seem to happen."  I said, "Bob, I know just the woman for you.  Her name is Susan.  She's good looking and nice.  Why don't you give it a try?"  After that we both went our own ways.  By another coincidence we kinda worked together on Guam in 2000 and 2001.

Then in 2007, I made the decision to retire from the Air Force after working many long hours over the years.  Then in February 2007 I had an opportunity to play in a chess tournament on the base.  The winner got the opportunity to play in the Air Force Chess Tournament in Tuscon, Arizona.  I did well enough to play another young guy for the opportunity, but after working 12-14 hours I really didn't have the energy and blunered and lost the game.

But for some reason I knew I was going to Tuscon.  I can't explain why, but put it this way I kept the bags packed and waited for a phone call.  Then I received a call and was told the winner had to drop out because of military commitments.  So I got ready and made the trip to Tuscon.

The experience of playing in the Air Force Chess Tournament was one that I will never forget.  It was especially funny to watch this "kid" destroy some of the players.  He said he just played through tactics diagrams and really never played anyone in a game.  I believe him.  His mastery of tactics was incredible.  He created magic on the chess board as he did in real life.  He practiced magic and was really good at it.  However, he could not play much of an end game and that cost him dearly.  His level of strength greatly dropped off in the endgame.  Anyway, my result was not that good, but I enjoyed myself and that's what is most important.

Then I ran into Bob again.  He was living in Tuscon, Arizona.  He invited me over his house to eat.  He had a really nice house.  As I was sitting in his house watching basketball, his wife walked in.  Her name was Susan.

It all seemed really odd to me how I could cross paths with Bob over the years.  Then we meet surprisingly at the same time in a small city on the other side of the world and on that day I introduce him to the woman who would become his wife.

My friends, I've stopped believing in coincidences long ago.  This is just another reason why.

Cheers

Paul