“Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.”

The title quote from Emma Bull elegantly sums up the fact that there is no such thing as coincidence. That said, you can lose sleep and scratch your head trying to make sense of some of the seemingly random events that happen in our lives. Yesterday I was given pause in one of the most remarkable expressions of social networking coincidence that I ever expect to experience. Facebook manifested itself in the physical world in a very strange way.

I really enjoy social networking. I love being able to follow the lives of friends and acquaintances without actually having to engage them on a regular basis. I relish the ability to drop a note, add a comment or just keep tabs on the things that interest people in my life. Yesterday David Hiller, an old friend who I had lost touch with years and years ago, friended me on Facebook. As with any new Facebook friend it brought up a host of memories and I was tickled to check out his page and reconnect with a few other friends I had lost along the way.

Imagine my surprise later that same day to stop in to a Baja Fresh in Wayne NJ to see David enjoying a taco lunch. Friended in the morning (after a several year absence) and randomly lunching together hours later? In Wyane NJ?

What odd twist of fate is throwing us back together again? I can't say but I doubt that I will ever experience that level of Facebook serendipity again. There are no coincidences, but I do not see the levers and pulleys behind this pleasant turn of events. The world continues to amaze me.