This refers to when two or more people encounter each other in completely coincidental fashion. You might notice your old classmate from three countries away is now your waiter in a place you had no reason to expect them in, and you might say “wow, what a small world”. You might notice two people who you know from completely different spheres miraculously know each other. You might recognize by chance that your penpal has made a cameo at a venue you’re at.
But what was your most profoundly coincidental encounter?
I was in the US Air Force and stationed in England. If someone left their ID out we would hide it or freeze it in a block of ice. Your ID also happens to have your social security number on it. One of my coworkers left her ID on the table and when I grabbed it to go hide it, I noticed her social security number was only a couple of numbers off of mine. The first 8 numbers were completely the same.
For those not from the US, our socials are 9 digits long. The first 5 digits of your social security number indicates the part of the country you were born in. The last 4 digits are assigned from 0001-9999.
It turns out we were born in the same hospital 1 day apart, and met halfway across the globe 20 years later.