It’s A Small Internet After All

I’ve never been a big believer in coincidences. The world is just too vast, and the chances of any one thing happening or not happening at a certain time too many. When something aligns, or a chance encounter or random thought enters the mind, I really believe it means something. There’s some prompter or power at work.

I was taught at an early age that if an old friend or a family member comes to mind during the day, stop and take a moment to pray for them. Appreciate what they mean to you, and even reach out to them if you can (quick email, text or even a Facebook poke).

That worked the other way around just recently. A bizarre thing happened last week. I got an email from a guy named John who contacted me after visiting this blog and seeing my profile picture:

From: John
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:35 PM
Subject: you look familiar

Young man, your picture on your blog reminds me of an old USAF buddy from Brooklyn. But, that was back in the early 1960's. I haven't seen Richard and his wife, Marilyn since August 1970.

Happy Thanksgiving.

John

Well- my dad’s name is Richard, he was indeed in the Air Force, and his wife, my mom, is named Marilyn. And the time frame fit. Wacky.

I forwarded the email to my dad and he confirmed he knew John. The next step for me was to find out how John found my blog and recognized by picture:

From: DigitalRich
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 9:06 AM
To: John
Subject: RE: you look familiar

Hello John. You found the right guy. My dad is Richard and his wife is Marilyn. I sent your message to him and he confirmed he knows you. I’d be very interested to know if this was a total coincidence and how you found my blog and recognized me as looking like my dad. Did you just stumble on the blog, or did you search for my dad and find my blog? Please let me know!

Rich

And his response blew my mind…

From: John
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 7:47 PM
To: DigitalRich
Subject: RE: you look familiar

Rich:

I've been working 12 hour night shifts over the four day holiday and was getting bored because all work activity in the three state area that I control natural gas was non-existent. Soooooo. I was digging around for music to stream on the internet and started with http://www.tropicalglen.com/ and http://www.theradio.com/. The older music started me thinking about my early days in USAF and one of my good friends, your dad knows him, Sonny Jackson, used to like gospel (he hailed from Alabama - Georgia border. Somehow I ran across a site that had some DVD’s for sale for child protection sponsored by John Walsh. John's son was kidnapped from the Hollywood Mall in Fl about 5 miles from where I lived after the Air Force, so this caught my eye. I was just surfing and all of a sudden, the past is looking me in the eye. You look a lot like your Dad, your uncle, and your grandfather as well as I can remember. Your mom is in the mix too.

Where are you? California? Tell your dad that Terry and Mary Ann Lambert just sent me a post card. They visited the duplex that they and your parents used to live in right after they were married in Naranja, FL.

God Bless and have a wonderful holiday season.

John

Unbelievable. In 2006 I worked for John Walsh (of America’s Most Wanted fame) and helped him and Julie Clark (Baby Einstein Founder) launch a kids safety video company. I wrote a few posts about child safety and those got dinged by John’s Google search… he then visited my blog and saw my photo without knowing my name.

How crazy is that?