Coincidence Queen 2010

Yes, it's time again for a little ridiculous fun. Read on if you dare.

On February 14th, my mother-in-law sent us a Valentine’s Day e-card and on the same day, I was looking for a card to send her in return, as a thank you. I came across a sweet card that had a beautiful piano arrangement of a song I really like. I knew the singer (Seal) but I didn’t know the name of the song and I happened to mention it to my son, Chad. I figured I'd do some research later and decided to send the card to Todd, so we would have it on our email. That afternoon, Chad was reading his 2008 World Almanac and was telling me different winners of the Grammy awards. I don’t know what led him to do this but I was listening and making comments about different people. Then, he said, “Seal won for “Kiss From A Rose.” I yelled, “What? Say that again?” He repeated it and I reminded him that Seal was the singer I was talking about that morning and that Chad had just given me the answer I was looking for. I was blown away. We both laughed.

On February 19th, my son and I were discussing Seal and I said I didn’t know his real name or at least, his full name. Tonight, I went online and my home page listed things that happened today, including the birth of, you guessed it, "Seal," an English Afro-American soul singer. His full name is “Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel” (whoa) and he was born the same year I was. Unbelievable. I laughed out loud.

Chad has been working on a piano piece, teaching himself, for several weeks now. One morning, I found myself humming a tune I couldn't quite place until I heard him practicing. Duh! It was the piece he’s been playing! I asked him the name of it and he said it was from the opera, “Raymond.” I was unfamiliar with it so he told me the composer’s name. I didn’t recognize him either and we wondered as to how to correctly pronounce his French-sounding first name (Ambroise Thomas). Chad went to the computer to do a Google search on Ambroise and discovered that 144 years ago, on this very day, this composer had died!

Saturday night, my husband was at work, and I was listening to a local radio station that plays all 80’s music from 6 to midnight. They played a song by Robert Palmer and, remembering that he had died in the 1990’s, I decided to learn more about him. Reading Wikipedia, I was reminded of the videos he did with five models backing him, all dressed nearly identically. I always wondered what that was all about and learned that the videos were reminiscent of a particular artist’s work (the name escapes me at the moment). Anyway, the next day, I got the Sunday paper and opened up the Parade magazine section. There, on the “Ask Walter Scott” page (a page dedicated to reader’s questions about famous people, etc.) was a photo of Robert Palmer with some of those models standing behind him, from one of the videos! The question was about what had become of the models but I couldn't believe the timing. Why would they run a piece on Robert Palmer on that particular day?

On Friday, I was reading the newspaper. I saw all this on one page: A zebra named Lima escaped from the Barnum & Bailey Circus in Atlanta, Georgia. After a long chase down an interstate, the zebra was caught, unharmed. Directly below that was the byline, “Obama Quietly Meets with the Dalai Lama.” We all laughed at the zebra-Lima-Obama-Lama page and figured the editing department of The Oregonian had fun with that. The next day, Saturday, I was reading the paper again and saw a photo of an army soldier, after a skirmish in Afghanistan. Reading the article, I saw he was with the Lima Division. Directly after that, I turned to the weather section, looking for somewhere it was warm. You guessed it - one of the first places I saw on the world chart was Lima, Peru. And, yes, it’s warm there today.

Another Saturday night, I was listening to the radio and heard a Billy Joel song. The DJ mentioned that he had recently seen Billy Joel and Elton John perform in Portland. The next day, I got the Sunday paper and opened up the Parade magazine section. Elton John was on the front cover. In the interview inside, the writer said that Elton looked well-rested even though he had performed the night before with Billy Joel in Atlanta.

My New Zealand friend, Cate, mentioned in her blog a quote from a U2 song. It was the last thing I read on the computer that night before I went to bed. The next day, I went to the orthodontist and sat down in the waiting room. They usually have a radio going and the first song I heard was a U2 song. Days later, Cate mentioned the group, AC/DC and, this time, I had heard an AC/DC song just a few hours prior to reading her blog. These are not groups I hear often on the radio.

I was reading the magazine, VIA, that I receive because we are members of AAA (an automobile club). In this issue, there was an article about Ashland, Oregon, listing places to eat, stay, etc. It caught my attention because the last time we were in Ashland (years ago) we couldn't find a good place to eat. One of the restaurants they mentioned was in a small town not far from Ashland and I took note of the chef. The next day, the Oregonian newspaper ran a column about several Oregon chefs that are up for the James Beard Award, a prestigious trophy coveted by many chefs. Yes, you guessed it, this particular chef that I read about in VIA is one of those chefs in the running. I guess we should try out her restaurant if she's that good!

Finally, the polar bear. On Thursday, I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR), and during a program called “All Things Considered”, one of the reporters speaking was Robert Segal. I listen to this program all the time. Mr. Segal was speaking about online video games and used the term “polar bear” as an example of a user name someone might use. The next day, he said a listener had emailed him to ask why Mr. Segal used the term “polar bear” twice, not only in the radio segment I’d heard but in another segment about something else that I hadn’t heard. Mr. Segal simply said it was just what came off the top of his head. Then, the next day, I opened up the Saturday paper and there was a large photo of a polar bear. I can’t remember why it was there but I was feeling haunted by polar bears by now. And then, on Sunday, I opened up the comics and there, in Mark Trail (a nature comic) was a frame showing a polar bear, look here to see for yourself. I hope it ends there, believe me.

So, have you noticed any coincidences in your life lately? Or do you have better things to do with your time?!!