There is no such thing as coincidence.
How do I know this, you ask? Let me tell you a little story (and bear with me, I suck at telling stories)...
My company procures and ships product for several large telecommunications companies. One of my many responsibilities is to export each days shipments to a file (spreadsheet), and then to manipulate it so that it can be imported into our UPS software for creation of shipment labels. For each client we usually have several files that are created every day.
For this particular client, and this one specific product alone, we ship anywhere from 75 to 150 packages each day. Normally, the only information I have to be concerned with is the shipment address, making sure to extract any apartment/unit/suite # and then place it in the appropriate column for the UPS import file, so I never have reason to actually look at the name of the person something is being shipped to - even when the address is missing from the file, which occurs with less than 2% of the orders we process.
Then yesterday, as I'm working this file, I find an entry that only has an apartment # for the address. So I pull up the order in the clients database, change the status to holding, and indicate in the notes why the order is being held so that the client can chase down the information we need. Normally I would then go on about my business.
Well, imagine my shock and surprise when I open the order and just happen to glance at the name on it - minus the missing middle initial, it is my mothers first and last (maiden) name!
Could this just be a coincidence? I suppose, as her first name isn't totally uncommon and I guess neither is her maiden name, except maybe for the fact that it's the correct exact same spelling of both.
So, after processing probably close to 50,000 shipments of this product for this client over the last 15 to 18 months, what are the odds that this combination would occur, with missing information that would cause me to actually notice the customers name, on this particular day?
Nothing really, except for one thing; the timing.
Today is (or would be if she were still on this earth) my mothers birthday...
If you believe in a higher power as I do, you'll know that this most certainly was NOT some bizarre coincidence - this was a message from above, a reminder to me that I should never forget this date, or the importance of the person it represents. After all, had she never been born, neither would I...
So no, Virginia, there is no such thing as coincidence.
Happy Birthday, Mom!
How do I know this, you ask? Let me tell you a little story (and bear with me, I suck at telling stories)...
My company procures and ships product for several large telecommunications companies. One of my many responsibilities is to export each days shipments to a file (spreadsheet), and then to manipulate it so that it can be imported into our UPS software for creation of shipment labels. For each client we usually have several files that are created every day.
For this particular client, and this one specific product alone, we ship anywhere from 75 to 150 packages each day. Normally, the only information I have to be concerned with is the shipment address, making sure to extract any apartment/unit/suite # and then place it in the appropriate column for the UPS import file, so I never have reason to actually look at the name of the person something is being shipped to - even when the address is missing from the file, which occurs with less than 2% of the orders we process.
Then yesterday, as I'm working this file, I find an entry that only has an apartment # for the address. So I pull up the order in the clients database, change the status to holding, and indicate in the notes why the order is being held so that the client can chase down the information we need. Normally I would then go on about my business.
Well, imagine my shock and surprise when I open the order and just happen to glance at the name on it - minus the missing middle initial, it is my mothers first and last (maiden) name!
Could this just be a coincidence? I suppose, as her first name isn't totally uncommon and I guess neither is her maiden name, except maybe for the fact that it's the correct exact same spelling of both.
So, after processing probably close to 50,000 shipments of this product for this client over the last 15 to 18 months, what are the odds that this combination would occur, with missing information that would cause me to actually notice the customers name, on this particular day?
Nothing really, except for one thing; the timing.
Today is (or would be if she were still on this earth) my mothers birthday...
If you believe in a higher power as I do, you'll know that this most certainly was NOT some bizarre coincidence - this was a message from above, a reminder to me that I should never forget this date, or the importance of the person it represents. After all, had she never been born, neither would I...
So no, Virginia, there is no such thing as coincidence.
Happy Birthday, Mom!
