coincidence or fate?

have you ever wondered how bizarrely trivial the coincidences can be that make you meet some of the closest people in your life? an accidentally-missent sms, a wave back at someone who was actually waving to the person to behind you. some of my memorable ongoing interactions with people have started this way, and i'm strangely more compelled to keep these going (through the perverse belief that it is not coincidence that brought us together but fate) than the obvious i-met-you-at-school incidents (though don't get me wrong, my two bestest peeps in the world hung out with me way back then)... take, for instance, the strange relationship i have with brendyn, the last person i interviewed for that little engineering publication i used to write for. if he hadn't been my last interview, and if i hadn't been so piss-angry with the gilb, i would've treated him as just a regular guy. but the combination of those circumstances led to my daring email admission of instant attraction to him, and while things haven't gone that way - we were both faithfully committed at the time - i delight in the anticipation of his next email/phone call/sms, even if i haven't seen him since. or how about last night's farewell to a swiss tourist who i met in ct while arguing with a hardware store owner about the benefits of grout vs crack-filler. or the chick i used to hate because she was shagging that beautiful creature who used to play at the bohemian, who saw me at another club and came and introduced herself to me, making it a lot harder to hold any grudges against her? or even irate bloggers who misunderstand my intent when i jokingly make fun of them? this entry isn't going anywhere, but i just thought about it last night, and the lengths i'll go to to remain in contact with these people whose paths have fleetingly crossed mine - i turned down dinner for the gilb's parents' 30th anniversary (and their first official invitation to me for dinner, i might add) to go say good-bye to this swiss creature who bases his entire life on Trainspotting. to all those i've met briefly, may we meet briefly again many times to come.