What A Coincidence!

Isn’t it peculiar how one person in the family always gets the pits? I mean just that – at our house, it seems that my husband, Mark, always gets the cherry pit if there is one to be found. I’ve heard this said for other households, too.

My daughter, Josie, is especially picky about her meat – prefers no bones, doesn’t want to trim anything away, and, in essence, wants no bad bite of any kind on her plate. Naturally, she is the one who gets the bit of bone or gristle in the ready-to-use meatballs that I rely on so often for the pasta suppers we have nearly once a week.

The last time we had spaghetti, I was eating my second meatball, enjoying every bite, when Josie singled out her second bad bit from her only meatball, said it put her off the whole meal, and what was left went to Lydia, the dog. I felt bad because not only did it seem unfair since my serving was fine, but, if things had only been reversed, it wouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did Jo. I would have finished my food and no one, including myself, would have known anything was wrong.

Why do these things happen to the same people? Is it coincidence? Have you ever thought much about coincidences? I have, though I haven’t researched psychology books or done a scientific study. What is a coincidence? It simply means that an occurence has repeated itself often enough that it seems to show a pattern of events.

Is there really anything unusual going on or sometimes are certain things just brought to our attention and the probability of those things happening more often is no better than for anything else?

For instance, when Josie gets a bad bite of meat, she is always going to sound off about her displeasure and get my attention. There may have been just as many times when I got a bad bite but it went by unnoticed. It’s the same with Mark’s cherry pits. I’ve spit out my share of pits in my lifetime if I think about it, but it doesn’t bother me that much so it goes by unacknowledged. When a big deal is made, when Mark finds his seeds, it just seems like he’s always the one to get them.

[Webster’s unabridged, p. 353]

co.in’ ci.dence, n. 2. an accidental and remarkable occurrence of events, ideas, etc. at the same time that suggests a causal relationship;…

Isn’t the operative word there “suggests?” What do you think? Who gets the pits in your house?

(on the same dictionary page) –

col.can’ non, n. an Irish dish made of potatoes, cabbage, onions, boiled together and mashed.(for St. Patrick’s Day?)