Coincidences intrigue me until they scare me; a ghost from my treacherous past I continue to bury the more I move away from it. It’s interesting how coincidences happen, but the irony that occurs within it is what really determines how compelling it is to learn about. 

The reason why I find coincidences so petrifying sometimes is because of the realizations I have started to make within my own life. This has made me view life from a lens that I think no one has perceived before.

Before I was born, there was another child whom I never got the chance to meet, and I sometimes wonder what life would be like if I was that child. 11 years later, I had an eight-hour operation to correct the posture of my spine. Coincidence? I think not. I sought this as an opportunity given to me by the universe saying, “here’s another chance at life.”

I never got to meet the father of either of my parents, despite how depressing that sounds. I did get to meet my great-grandma from my mother’s side. It almost felt like the universe was saying again, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for your grandfather, but here is what I can do.”

When she was alive, I used to tell people, and they wouldn’t believe me, which only made my life feel a little bit more precious than others. I don’t say that as a means to boast about how amazing my life is, but rather to express how grateful I am for that specific aspect of my life. 

I took three years of French, planned to do Science Olympiad and work all four years of high school, which is exactly what my sister did. I guess that’s not really a coincidence, but rather a “full-circle moment,” as my friend likes to call it. It’s cool to compare and contrast my high school experience with my sister’s because of how distinct yet identical they are in comparison. 

In 2021, my uncle from my dad’s side passed and my grandfather passed the exact same way. Except, when I made this realization I was taking a semester of chemistry my sophomore year. My grandfather was a chemistry professor; alarming to think about, right?

The two teachers I had online freshman year were the same two teachers I had junior year for elective classes each one semester long. One for Model United Nations, and one currently for Psychology. 

In March of 2022, my dad went to India to drop off my grandma to be with her family. A year later, he is off on another excursion to bring her back. My mom plans to go to India in March of this year to visit her family. This is a coincidence for me, particularly because I now get to see my grandma, but at the expense of having only one parent present for a short period of time. 

Although these are only a few coincidences, one thing is for sure, these instances don’t make sense now, but the more I stray away from them, the more I start to realize the significance and reasoning behind why they happened, regardless if I am content with the outcome. No matter what happens, I have to keep going and I have to keep living to see how my storyline progresses.