Coincidence?

Sometimes I think maybe we really are living in a Matrix-like fantasy/reality. The weird coincidences that pop up and seem to defy the laws of probability (though maybe they conform absolutely to the chaos theory) sometimes truly astound me. Last weekend I met a friend of a friend, named Amir. The name reminded me of a boy I knew, very casually, in ninth grade. He was one of a set of twins, last name Amir, first names with-held. We had no classes together, but somehow he became interested in me. A few times I'd seen him speaking with a girl in my Latin class, whose identity I only knew in Latin, Vesta.

Vesta (Hestia in the Greek version of the myth) was Goddess of the home and hearth, and in Rome Vestal Virgins tended to a fire that was never allowed to go out. She was an odd girl, Vesta, and I think a sophomore or even junior. So Amir twin #1 (also older than me) started talking to me in the hall. My friends called him my "Latin Lover", though I wondered then, as I do now, if it was because they thought he was Latin (Amir doesn't sound so Latin American to me, but looks-wise he could have passed), or because it was outside of Latin class that he attempted to woo me.

Vesta, I suppose, must have seen the wooing. She and I chatted, occasionally, and I remember distinctly one day standing outside of our classroom before class began. She had a purple button up shirt on, and a paisley patterned vest over it. She was very mid 90s Winona Ryder chic, down to the short black hair and pouty lips (this was 1994, mind you). We were chatting about the twin, I think she asked me about him (or maybe I asked her?), and she told me that she'd lost her virginity to him. I wasn't really interested in boys at the time, and especially not interested in this particular boy, but I was struck by her confession which I didn't take to be insincere or manipulative; just a statement of fact. Also, I was so far from any kind of physical interaction with a boy that I was in complete awe of her being sexually active. I don't really remember how things shook down with me and the Amir boy; maybe I gave him my number but never took the call, maybe I just started to avoid him in the hall. But Vesta disappeared mid-semester. I wondered about her, whether she moved or maybe dropped out. Like I said, she was an odd girl.

But I came here to tell you about coincidences, not my awkward high school non-love affairs. Yesterday I finished Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (brilliant, by the by). It's chock full of references to various mythologies, cultures, arts sciences, etc. Mind blowing. But I digress. There was mention, in the course of a chapter I was reading a couple of days ago, of Hestia. Of course I was struck by this coincidence, but moved on.

Today, though, came the real sock in the gut, knock the wind out of you, head over heels, ok now who the hell's pulling the strings here kind of coincidence. (Forgive me in advance for discussing a social networking site, but I must; it's a fact of life: mine, yours, and everyone we know.) Today I signed into Facebook to play a scrabble move. Facebook, for any who are unfamiliar, has a "newsfeed" that updates you with your friends' updates: relationship status, events they will attend or did attend, new friends they've added, etc.. Friends added, such as: Amir brother #2. Yes indeed, one of my old pals from high school connected with him via Facebook (it seems they may have gone to the same college), and I was there to witness the whole thing! Has your heart ever gotten stuck in your throat? Your stomach dropped to your feet? Ever felt a little bit of vertigo out of the blue? I dunno, maybe I was just hungry.