Have you ever run into people you haven't seen in years in the most unexpected places and at the most unexpected times? Or have you ever been 20 minutes deep into a conversation with a new friend and soon realize that you and that person have mutual friends in common? In the moment, you may think that all these encounters are just subtle coincidences. I know I always did. In the moment, you may just think how small this world really is. I certainly always did. But this year I recognized something greater than all these "subtle coincidences." After living on different ends of the world, making and growing apart from friends, I've grown to acknowledge the mysteries behind the way our lives are paved. Life always brings you to people you are supposed to meet, to people who are supposed to stay in your life and to people you are supposed to see again. An idea I will explain shortly.

A while ago I overheard someone referring to one of their own friendships as being a "low maintenance" one. She continued to explain how much she appreciates having "low maintenance friendships" because it does not require the pressure of daily checkups, the constant visits and the persistent worry of becoming distant since she was convinced that once she and her friend would reunite, it would be as if no time had passed. At first, I thought this term was down grading and somewhat of an insult. I wondered why someone would not want to go out of their way with an effort towards maintaining a friendship that could reach a great potential? But then I experienced something that out shined all those “subtle coincidences”, something that gave me a new definition for what a “low maintenance friendship” really is.

When I was younger, my family and I lived in Budapest, Hungary. I attended an International School in Hungary for the third, fourth and fifth grade where I met some great individuals I am still friends with today. At the end of fifth grade, I moved back to Miami, Florida. This past February, during my first year of college, I saw an Instagram post by my friend Alec who I met in third grade while in Hungary, who now attends a University in Madrid. In this Instagram post, was a picture of Alec himself and a guy named Marcus with a caption along the lines of “Bros taking on España.”

While sitting in my apartment complex at FSU, something about Marcus seemed more familiar than foreign. I clicked on Marcus’s name and realized that he was from Miami, as I am, and attended the high school near my home. I also noticed that we had over 30 mutual followers, including some of my close friends. There I was sitting in my bed speechless. Out of all the people in the world, how could it be possible that Alec, a friend I haven’t hung out with in over seven years, moved from Hungary to Spain and become best friends with someone of a similar social circle in Miami? I was speechless.

Immediately, I messaged my friend Alec and we were both stunned to learn about this crazy “coincidence.” With great excitement, Alec was happy to both see me again and introduce me to Marcus during my study abroad time in Spain this coming fall. Now six months later, we are in early July, just two weeks before I packed up my things to leave for Europe. I was invited out on a boat day with some of my close and mutual friends. It was a beautiful day, filled with great vibes and even better company. Total, there were about 15 of us talking, dancing and taking full on advantage of our summer break. I met many new people that day, even this one guy in the purple shorts. This guy, for some strange reason, was the only person I neither asked for his name nor what school he or she currently attends. We just seemed to drift our conversation towards other things. As the day ended, we returned to dock the boat and I decided to ask the owner of the boat, Ryan, more about this guy.

“Oh, the kid in the purple shorts? His name is Marcus." Ryan said.

"Wait, What?" I asked

"Yeah, he goes to school in Madrid," Ryan answered.

I didn’t think I could be left more speechless than that other time in February, but there I was. Just standing. No words. There was no way that the Marcus who is friends with Alec from Hungary, was the same Marcus I met on the boat that day in Miami. But, it was. Out of this world’s entire population, you’re telling me that it was a coincidence that boat Marcus is the same Marcus as Alec’s Marcus? No. I don’t buy it. I've had a lot of unexpected "coincidences" in my life, but this one just topped it all off. Just as confusing as that sounds, was how confused I was.

Nobody understood why I was in such shock, why I found this encounter so exciting yet mysterious. After updating Alec on my day with his best friend, I sat in my room and pondered on absolutely everything. Sure, I don’t talk to Alec every day, but somehow, he is still relevant to my life. For example, he is one of the few people I still have some type of relationship with from my time in Hungary. Whenever I visit Budapest, we never fail to run into each other in the middle of streets. And now look, almost 8 years later, we will be attending school in the same country again. Suddenly the phrase “everything happens for a reason” turned a light bulb on in my head. It’s not that the world is small, it’s that our experiences early on set the foundations for the rest of our life. Those “low maintenance friendships” aren’t friendships that are low maintenance, those are the friendships that are meant to be a part of your life. The people who are meant to pop up every so often no matter how great the distance.

There are too many people in this world to see all of our “coincidences” as just “coincidences”. They are much more than that. We will always encounter people who are a part of our social circle, if not directly then indirectly relevant to us. It’s a beautiful thing to witness first hand. But it's even more beautiful to see the way our world works. All it takes is an open mind and the desire to experience. If you have paths with individuals near and far that cross many times, I’ll be the first one to tell you it is not an accident. It’s just your life story narrating itself out loud.

*Names have been altered.