Coincidence? I think not.

Sometimes things happen in life that you just can't explain. Well I had another one of those "planets must be aligned" experiences which in the last year have been hitting with full force and it's starting to freak me out. I'll try my best to put down into words this latest one.

Less than a month ago Tom and I were talking about our childhood experiences and people from our past and it made me think about two of my best friends from gradeshool that I've lost touch with, Grazia and Cristina. I met Grazia in kindergarten and Cristina in first grade and from that point on had been extremely close friends with both of them up until our 20's. All 3 of us attended different high schools and colleges but still managed to remain good friends. Once we became preoccupied with careers, spouses, moves to other cities, we started to drift apart. The last time I saw Grazia was about 12 years ago and I think the last time I saw Cristina was at my wedding 9 years ago.

So thinking about them while reliving some of my childhood experiences prompted me to consult the world's greatest invention of all time, the world wide web. I was coming up blank on just about every name combo I searched and was getting discouraged, until I tried LinkedIN. I found Grazia! So I rambled off an email in hopes that it really was her, I had a feeling it was because there aren't too many out there! So this was on a Friday and by 10:00 that evening I had a return email from my BFF!!! I was ecstatic. I emailed back with my phone number and first thing Saturday morning she calls and first we screamed, talked and laughed for most of the morning and it seriously felt like no time had passed.

I asked if she had stayed in touch with Cristina because I had no luck finding her. She said that she has lost touch with her as well and didn't really know where she was. Though I was disappointed I wasn't able to get in touch with Cristina, I was also so happy that Grazia and I had reconnected. We exchanged all our information and promised each other to stay in touch more frequently and are even planning to get together hopefully this fall. She now lives in Portland, OR which is an easy 2 hour flight away.

Later that night I was telling my mom how Grazia and I got back in touch and she was so happy for both of us. My mom adored Grazia and Cristina and I told her how I'm not giving up hope on finding Cristina. My mom said that she had run into her YEARS ago at her local grocery store but it was so quick, no numbers were exchanged or anything so she really didn't have much more to go on. I thought that maybe the next time I'm back home I'll visit some of my old stomping grounds (ie, bars) and see what I can find out.

Well that was my plan anyway. Then Monday afternoon rolls around. I'm working from home when the phone rings. It's a number I don't recognize so I assume it's a solicitor (we get TONS of those) so I'm debating on whether or not to answer it. After a few annoying rings, I pick it up.

me: Hello?

voice: Hello. Is Laura (insert maiden and married name) there?

me: (assuming it's a solicitor so I switch into bitch mode) Um, yeah it's her. Who's this?

voice: (in a slow drawn out question) L-A-U-R-A? Is...this...you???

me: CRISTINA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Cristina: OH MY GOD!!! IT'S YOU!!!!

both of us: SCREAMS SCREAMS AND MORE SCREAMS!

I literally had to sit down for a minute because I was so completely overwhelmed. I explained to her that I had just searched for her online less than 3 days ago and now out of the blue she calls??? I couldn't believe it. I felt the tears welling up. I asked how and WHY all of the sudden she found me??? She said that the night before she and her husband celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary and they decided to watch their wedding video. I was a bridesmaid and was chatting away on their video about when Cristina and I were younger, we used to put on these long black Elvira wigs and ride around town on this 2 person bike. The hair would be flowing several feet behind us and we'd be afraid that it would get caught in the wheel spokes and snap our necks! Yeah that's just what you want to remember when you watch your wedding video 10 years later. At any rate, she said after she watched it, she had to get back in touch. She found 2 listings for Tom's name and decided to try the first one which led her to our home. How amazing is that?

When I told her that I had just talked to Grazia on Saturday after 12 years, again there were more screams. I gave her Grazia's information and now through some divine intervention from the heavens, 3 friends that have not seen or heard from each other in a decade, were reunited.

I can't stop smiling.