CHEERFUL DOUBLE COINCIDENCES

[schlomo]

A Cheerful Double Coincidence

Last week, while some of my family was swimming with the dolphins on Oahu’s west shore, I was seated on the boat opposite a chatty middle-aged woman from California.  Once she noticed my Shaloha cap and the mezuzah on my neck chain, she revealed that she was Jewish as well. After I mentioned that my wife and I were active in our local synagogue, Temple Emmanu-El, she revealed that her husband once was one of the executive directors of that same congregation when they lived in Honolulu years ago. Members of the tribe, unite!

That evening in Waikiki at a play area at the Royal Hawaiian Grove, my visiting daughter from Fort Worth, Texas, with two of her children met a young couple vacationing with a child the same age as my youngest granddaughter, Shila. Both of the six-year-olds instantly bonded and frolicked on the grounds for hours. After kibitzing with the parents, my daughter found out that they too were from Texas and lived about an hour away in Dallas. Within minutes, a play date was arranged in Dallas to coincide with a birthday party for the child who was so fond of Shila.

Coincidences can be frightful, but the ones that day were delightful.