Aren't coincidences funny?

Last week I was working on my checkout when suddenly I saw Rosaleen and my brother Bob in Asda.

It was a shock as they actually live in Brighton.
They laughed when they saw my face as I just looked in total shock!

Well, they came to the shop because they were going to Birmingham to see some friends. They had lost their son, in Afghanistan a year ago in a road side bomb. As you probably remember bob and rosaleen lost their son, sean, in a road side bomb attack, also in Afghanistan.

I was finishing at I p.m. and as it was about 12.45 they waited for me to finish and we went for a coffee in the town.
We were laughing and chatting away, and they were openly talking about sean and what he had done whilst there in Afghanistan,and how he helped a lot of the children as there was no schooling, and how the soldiers all gave them books to read and just generally helped them in any way they could.

Suddenly rosaleen said about how sometimes she stands in the living room and cries for her son and wonders why it had to be him.
Well, yes, we can all sympathise with that.

She said that on one occasions she was feeling particularly sorrowful and was just sitting on her own in the living room thinking of sean when she had noticed a robin in the garden.She stared at it thinking how beautiful it was when suddenly it seemed to turn and look at her and then, quick as a flash, it flew off.
She didn't see it for a few days and really had forgotten all about it.

One sunday they were both doing the gardening when suddenly a robin flew down and landed on a tree they have in their garden.
It took her breath away, and she stood their staring at it as she remembered when she had seen it before.
She didn't say anything to bob and carried on doing the gardening and every now and then she would turn and look at the robin, watching its every movement, suddenly after about half an hour, it chirped, flapped it's wings, and flew off.

That night bob knew something was bothering Rosaleen and he asked her what was wrong. At first she was a little hesitant about telling him about this robin as she was worried bob would say that it was just a robin and that was that.

After a couple of hours they were sat in their living room having a well earned cup of tea when rosaleen just came out with the story about the robin.Bob, being bob, asked why she thought it was important that a robin had come into the garden, and she said she wasn't sure exactly but it wasn't the first time, and she had seen it before.
Days went on and no more was said.

On the friday of that week rosaleen had just finished work and was walking towards her front door when a robin flew over her head.
It made her jump because it came so close.
Thats when it hit her, she had seen this robin so many times, and on occasions it got quite close to them.
She looked at me and said:
"I swear thats sean."

Well, I sat there and I felt quite strange to be honest. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I asked her if she thought it possible to which she replied:
"Oh, I don't know, it's just strange that everytime I think of sean, this robin appears."

Where's the coincidence I hear you ask?

Well, there is a lovely lady called sheila who I have known for years. She comes to Asda first thing in the morning to collect her bit of shopping before going to work.
Sheila, who is in her fifties, came in one day looking particularly unwell, I asked her what was wrong and she said she had lost her husband suddenly a week before.

There was tears all around.

Now, I have never met her husband, but she told me he had cancer but he doing so well with the treatment, that the consultant had praised him only 2 weeks prior, saying just how well he had done and they were thinking of realising him from the hospital.

Although he would be an out-patient there was no need to keep him in anymore.

They were both delighted with this news.

Unfortunately, just after being released he died unexpectedly.

She was devastated.

A few weeks went by and she came in to Asda, always putting on a brave face but you could see that she just couldn't really come to terms with his death.

One day, she turned to me and asked me if she could tell me something that had happened, I ,of course, said yes.

I thought perhaps I could help her in some way.

She then went on to explain that since her husbands death they've had a robin in their garden every day. At first she took no notice of it but after a while she realised she was looking out of the window waiting for this robin to appear.

And it always did.

I saw her last week and I asked her about the robin, I think I was expecting her to say it had gone, but, no, it was still there.

In her back garden.

She swears that it is her husband come to see if shes o.k.

So you see, thats two people telling me about robins in their gardens, who they believe to be their loved ones.

I know a lot of people will say it is a coincidence and you see a lot of robins everyday and because of whats happened you put too much of an emphasis on it.

But, it just makes you wonder, doesn't it?