I was visiting family in LA and I randomly suggested we check out the places we went to when my older brother and I were younger.
One day, we decided to visit the house where I was born.
I have no memory of that house near East Los Angeles since we moved to another house when I was two. But we pulled up to the house and I got out of the car and looked around the front yard.
A guy emerged from the home and we locked eyes. I didn't say anything out of fear went back into the car where my family sat waiting. My mother, however, insisted I go back out and explain to the guy why we were there in order to avoid further suspicion.
The man understandably stared me down and I told him this was the house where I was born. His surly expression changed instantly and he insisted my family come inside and meet his mom and dad and tour their home.
Under different circumstances, I'm not sure if we would have experienced the same outcome. To me, this is my one-in-a-million story.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor IcarusTheTaker asked:
"(Serious) What is your "1 In a Million" story?"
Connections
Interactions with strangers led to mind-blowing discoveries for these Redditors.
Family Secrets
"My dad died when I was 12. We had a favorite picture of him that my uncle made prints of and gave to us kids, and my two half-brothers, as well as other family members."
"Fast forward 15 years or so. My brother and his roommate are at a bar and pick up a couple of women and bring them back to their place. The women spend the night. The next morning, the woman that slept with my brother's roommate sees my dad picture on the mantle, turns white and says 'Who's that?'"
"That's my roommates dad. He passed away a while ago."
"Oh, thank God! I REALLY need to talk to him."
"That's how we found out we had a half-sister we never knew about."
"My dad got a girl pregnant in highschool and she decided to go it alone. She moved across the state and never contacted my dad other than to say it's a girl and what her name was."
"Our half sister never knew what dad's name was until word got to her mom that he had died. The mom contacted our mom and they had a conversation. My mom had known everything and had kept it to herself. My mom then had a copy of the photo sent."
"Half sister was visiting her friend, when they met up with my brother and roommate in a random bar in a random city."
"Family secrets, man."
Passengers
"My friend was on the tube (london) and was forced to get off at an earlier stop due to line works. He was relatively new to london and didnt know what to do so he got talking to a guy who sat opposite him and he was heading the same way and he welcomed my friend to come with him. They started making small talk and asked about where they were from originally. Turns out the guy was from the next town over from where he lived. The next part is where it really gets 1 in a million. When my friend said that he knew the town and told him where he was from, the guy is like 'no way, my grandma used to live there' The guys grandma lived next to my friend, and it turns out they used to play together when were around 5/6 years of age (they are both around 30 at this time). When they realised this they recognised eachother."
"If the train never had to stop they would have carried on their journeys and never known."
High School Buddy
"Went to New Orleans for Halloween a few years ago with a few friends. Ended up at the famous Cafe Du Monde for some Beignets. Was sitting at our table with my 4 travel friends, when I let out a loud laugh."
"Right behind me I hear someone say 'wtf, I know that laugh, that's gotta be whopper68!'. I turn around as he turns around. It's an old high school buddy that had just gotten off a plane on a last second trip decision to fly to New Orleans to meet his fiancé's parents before they flew back home."
"Hadn't seen em in 10+years."
Familiar Face
"I was on a motor vehicle collision call out as a volunteer fire fighter. There was freezing rain on the Trans Canada highway and around 30 cars in the ditch. I checked on one lady in a flat bed tow truck who looked distraught because she just wrecked her vehicle. After speaking with her she seemed okay and I went about my business."
"A couple of years later I was hanging out with friends and family around Christmas and my brother-in-law mentioned he had a flight attendant friend staying over on her day off. She seemed really familiar, and after a while I figured out that she was the lady in the vehicle I checked in on during the freezing rain accident! What are the chances?"
People Share The 'Dirty Secrets' That Their Bosses Don't Want Customers To Know
There's a lot businesses hope their customers believe, and there are many business practices you wouldn't dare believe. These are some of the secrets Reddit ...Odds
Luck of the draw? Right place and time? Who knows?
Dad's Luck
"Me and my dad were on a hike, in the middle of the woods. We brought out knives, for whittling. So, we are carving out sticks, and he accidentally cuts himself. Nothing too bad, but it was big enough that you can't ignore. Then he notices something under the rock he is sitting on. It is a box, with a multiple bandaids in it."
"Also whenever he is looking for a parking spot, he finds one, right in front of where he needs to go."
What Are The Odds
"I have a distant relative that was an author. I'm always trying to find the few books of hers that I don't have. I bought a copy of one off a used book seller via the internet several years ago. When it came it had an inscription inside the front cover from the author to my grandmother (I'm sure it's her, she had a very unique nickname). This book had come out of my grandmother's library and been around the country to come back to me!"
Small World
"I met a girl on a bus in Mexico traveling to Guadalajara. We sat next to each other and hit it off. She was only in Mexico for another couple of days but we exchanged numbers. We never ended up staying in contact but ran into each other 8 years later in Oklahoma City and found out that her family grew up with my best friend's family. Crazy stuff!"
The Dodge King
"So here is the shortened version, i was playing dodgeball and was the last one on my team, i had three people throw a ball at me at the same time, i walked forward with my arms out as if accepting the fact that I couldn't dodge it even if i tried, and then they all barely missed me, never happened again and when i play dodgeball with the same people everyone calls me the dodge king and wont attack me."
Free Car On Tinder
"I met a girl on tinder, she came over and we... Well anyway before she left she told me she'd like me to go to her house the next day so i said sure! The next day she gives me her address and its in a different state but i live relatively close so i head over and she tells me to park out front by the mail box, ok sure. I go inside and we start making tea and just as the water starts to boil i hear a CRASH... Her 89 year old neighbor totaled my car, a lil dinky '95 saturn, with her brand new mercedes. So now im stuck. In another state. With a girl ive known for, oh about 16 hours.
Well she feels TERRIBLE and has me stay the night and takes me to work in the morning. Well at work i get a call from Mr. Tinder girl saying how he understands ive been friends with his daughter for a while and he heard what happened and is literally buying me a car while on the phone with him! Turns out he was a multi millionaire and worked on Wall st."
"No i did not stay with her. Money can buy negative happiness apparently and also spoil you rotten."
"R.I.P. Michael J. Fox, my '95 Saturn that shook a lot, thanks for the insurance money :'|"
– newguyay
Drunk Hotel Heiress
"Amazing story!"
"I was on a vacation with some friends and on our way home from a alcohol and other things infused night we found a girl sleeping on a bench right in front of a closed coffe shop. As she was clearly not a hobo (judging from her clothing) we tried to wake her up and talk to her, because in this part of the city it was very unsafe, especially for a young girl dressed up for a night in the club... She was very drunk and could barely talk, after a couple of minutes she vomited and was desperately embarrassed. We weren't so sure of what to do, she was starting to feel save around us but was clearly very uncomfortable. We managed to get her address from her and decided to order a taxi. We were five guys, so we decided three of us should just head home, while I and a friend brought the girl to her apartment. Finally there, we asked for her keys, when she realized that she had lost her bag!
We called our buddies but none of them answered their phones. Well, we weren't exactly sober so we decided to smash in the door to her place, brought her to bed and wrote a short letter, mentioning the broken door, that her bag was missing and left an anonymous email-address for her to contact us if she wanted. Right when we got out of her appartment our buddies called, he had her bag, totally forgot that he took it when she was vomiting (as mentioned, a lot of alcohol has flown this night...). He took a cab and brought us the bag, we went up there again, put the bag beside her bed, plugged in the phone, saw a friend of hers was concerned, unlocked the phone with the passed out girls fingerprints, wrote a message to calm her concerned friend, plugged the phone to recharge, and added some lines to the before-mentioned letter."
"We headed home to sleep out our intoxication."
"The next day around noon we got an email from the girl. She was in the city for university, the apartment was not rented but BOUGHT by her father just so she has a place to live near uni. Her father was the owner of the second most expensive and exclusive hotel in the country. She was very, very thankful, said the smashed door was no problem at all, and after speaking to her father, we all have an all-inclusive weekend at the hotel for free!"
Genetics
Uncommon medical conditions and egg mutations take the spotlight.
Mutated Egg
"I cracked an egg and two yolks came out. I cracked another and three yolks came out. This was one after the other. Or consecutive as you might say in English."
"English isn't my first language, sorry for any mistakes."
Fascinating Patient
"I have 3 different unrelated liver diseases the odds of having all three is about 1/ 2,000,000."
"I have Non alcohol fatty liver disease (1/4) weight related, hemochromatosis (1/300) genetic, alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency (1/1700) genetic."
"The two genetic conditions are in completely unrelated genes, it was just bad luck!"
"The docs tell me I am fascinating medically, My blood test results are somewhat wacky, when they did a liver biopsy my liver was bright orange (its normally dark red / purple) but I am still alive and not expected to die anytime soon."
Physical Anamoly
"I was born with a hole in the internal walls in my heart."
"Apparently this is pretty rare."
– sorude27
Miracle Being Alive
"Took a common medication for a sinus infection when I was 15, and ended up with something called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome. The 'lesser' but more well known is called Steven Johnson's Syndrome."
"Basically it's a reaction that acts like a burn, attack's your mucous membranes and your skin blisters up and peels off. Like, I had no face, and almost all the skin north of my legs was gone. Pretty much awful."
"If I remember correctly the case rate is like 1 per million per year, and the mortality rate is basically tied to the % of skin you lose. Most lose 10-30%, I ended up losing 80%. Spent 2 months in ICU burn unit. An absolute miracle I'm alive. I didn't even end up needing skin grafts and didn't get infections which are a big issue when you just...don't have skin. To look at me now you'd never know, except for some uneven skin tone and low profile white spiderwebbing scars where the "burns" were deepest."
Continuing with my one-in-a-million story, my family accepted the invitation and we walked around. The family was warm, kind, and let us take pictures.
My family was ecstatic and emotional walking around in a familiar environment.
We took a group photo in the living room with the current homeowners before we left, and the guy I initially had contact with told me his mother said we were welcome to visit again any time, and that they would serve us Menudo. (They were a lovely Mexican family.)
I'm glad my mom insisted I go back and explain to the son why we were there. Had it been a different – and not as welcoming – family, we probably would never get to have that night of enjoying Menudo we are now looking forward to.
This example of a Japanese and a Mexican family interacting despite a language barrier between parents was an example of the American dream my dad sought for after leaving Japan so many years ago.
Life is full of crazy possibility and unbelievable coincidence. You have to wonder if fate and destiny are actual things. I mean what are the odds that we could come face to face with family or old acquaintances in the darkest rooms at the farthest corners of the Earth? Or how in the world do you wake up one morning next to a long lost relative? The surreal is plausible, even on a planet of billions. The Universe definitely likes to have some fun. And the world may actually be smaller than we think.
Redditor u/TruckerGabe wanted to see who else can attest to life's great "coincidences" by asking... What's your best "it's a small world after all" story?