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Original poster

“If it wasn’t for xxxxxxx I wouldn’t be here.” Weird things to Owe your existence to.

181 replies

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 08/03/2020 20:31

Inspired by a conversation with dh today. We were driving past the site of the old tb hospital in our home town. His grand parents met there when gf was a patient and Dgm was a nurse. “So if it wasn’t for tb I wouldn’t be here.”
So is there anyone else who wouldn’t be around if not for something unusual?

OP posts:
Elllicam · 08/03/2020 20:35

My mum and dad were both in the police. They met over a hanging. So if someone hadn’t killed himself I might not be here.

ImNotWhoYouThinkIam · 08/03/2020 20:38

World war 2.
My Grandad was an evacuee whos parents were killed in the Blitz. If they had survived he, presumably, would have gone back to London after the war and not met my Grandma.

ImNotWhoYouThinkIam · 08/03/2020 20:39

Ive always found it quite strange that he might have met and married someone else. Had children and grandchildren. But they wouldn't be 'us' . It used to upset me as a child.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 08/03/2020 20:40

My mum arranged to meet two boys on the same night, a few yards apart. My dad turned up first so she went off with him. If the other chap had been earlier, I may have not existed! DS owes his existence to a boozy weekend in Blackpool that I didn't go to - DH (my boyfriend of about 7 weeks or so at the time) went with a group of friends, came home and shagged me senseless, and I ended up pregnant Blush

Bunnybigears · 08/03/2020 20:43

If my Dad hadn't crashed his motorbike into a field owned by my Grandfather then he wouldnt hve met my Mum.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 08/03/2020 20:43

I'm another one who wouldn't be here if not for TB. I wonder if you're married to one of my cousins OP.

I also wouldn't be here if my mum hadn't offered to pay half at the start of a meal out. They'd had a couple of dates which my dad had paid for but he was struggling for money at that point because he'd just bought a share of a car with some of his RAF mates. Dad felt couldn't afford to have a girlfriend so was going to pay for dinner and then say goodbye, mum paying half changed everything.

I also wouldn't be here if Dad's room mate during his RAF training hadn't been dumped by his girlfriend (bit of a theme here it seems). He came back unexpectedly and found my dad who had taken an overdose, saving his life.

Sizeofalentil · 08/03/2020 20:43

My daughter is here because of...

A. Twitter
B. Someone dropping out of a dinner party and me needing a filler guest
C. A misplaced box of condoms

Not all in the same night, thankfully

isseywith4vampirecats · 08/03/2020 20:44

if my Brummie mom hadn't moved to Manchester and my dad hadn't been forced to come back to the UK from Kenya in the 1950s (naffi manager mau mau uprising) and moved into the same house as each other I wouldn't be here today

diamonddandelions · 08/03/2020 20:47

If my parents hadn't emigrated to the same country (from different countries) and got jobs at the same ice cream parlour then I'd never have existed.

jackparlabane · 08/03/2020 20:47

If my dad hadn't come to England to find his hotel had closed down, and been helped by a cab driver to find a room, in a b&b where my mum happened to be staying...

ScrapThatThen · 08/03/2020 20:54

My dc are here because dsil heard a very random radio advert and a number of things followed from that. Can't imagine we would have met each other otherwise.

CoffeeRunner · 08/03/2020 20:54

A locum Dr.

When I was a newborn baby I was seriously ill. So much so that I was baptised in hospital & my parents had been told 24-48 hours.

Consultant looking after me goes on holiday. A young female locum takes over my care. Takes one look & asks DPs “has she been tested for pyloric stenosis?” DPs say no. It was mentioned but Consultant had quickly dismissed it as something “girls don’t get”.

Locum Dr says it is rare in girls but still possible. So she tests me & that is what I have. One emergency surgery later, and I was on the mend.

So if it wasn’t for that young Dr, or the Consultant’s holiday, chances are I wouldn’t be here.

CloudyVanilla · 08/03/2020 20:55

It is maddening to think about - it's like the song by the streets that says:

For billions of years since the outset of time
Every single one of your ancestors has survived
Every single person on your mum and dad's side
Successfully looked after and passed on to you life
What are the chances of that, like?

I sometimes look at my own children and get a little upset at the thought that they could so easily be someone else too, as it really was by a load of really unlikely circumstances all lining up and coming together when I began seeing my DP

AwdBovril · 08/03/2020 20:58

An air raid. My DGM was apparently about 14, & trying to find the shelter. My DGF (16 or 17) was in the ARP, & helped her find it. Told her he'd look after her, & he always did.

SciFiScream · 08/03/2020 20:59

I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the bombing (nuclear) of Japan and their subsequent surrender.

My Grandfather was due to perform a role that would have led to his certain death (he was married to my Grandma but no children yet).

All his children, grand children and great grandchildren are the result of the bombing. I didn't know until recently.

Lllot5 · 08/03/2020 21:00

My mum was sent to buy saucepans during the war. A very rare chance to buy them btw.
In the way she called in for her friend and delayed going by about half an hour. In that time the shop she was going to was bombed.

ThisIsMeOrIsIt · 08/03/2020 21:05

My grandparents nearly fell off a cliff when they were on their honeymoon. If they hadn't just stopped in time, their many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren wouldn't be here today!

motortroll · 08/03/2020 21:05

If my dh's bio mum hadn't given him up for adoption he wouldn't have grown up near me and gone to the same school. Seems unlikely that we would have met so my children would not exist!!

Me and my 13 year old were talking about just that the other day!!

LordGarmadon · 08/03/2020 21:07

Antibiotics!

NothingTraLaLa · 08/03/2020 21:10

My children wouldn't be here if my school had offered Further Maths at A Level.

MeOldBamboo · 08/03/2020 21:14

If my DH hadn’t taken a temp job for three days in a post room in 1998 we wouldn’t have re-met after university. He hates early mornings and had to be in work for 7am and saw my name on the post room list then came and found me! 22 years later and two children we are still very much together. How different life could have been, I doubt as happy!

listsandbudgets · 08/03/2020 21:14

My parents met at university so nothing ununusual there.

However if it wasn't for someone's guide dog I almost certainly wouldn't be here. A man was standing next to me with his guidedog at a crossing. The green man came up, I briefly checked no on was about to jump the lights and was literally about to step into the road when the dog flung itself against both my left leg and its owners right leg literally bridging us IYSWIM and pushed us back... a car went through at what must have been 70 miles an hour. I would have been in front of it. I went home and made a large donation to Guide Dogs UK

Still have nightmares about it

ScrumptiousBears · 08/03/2020 21:19

*My mum and dad were both in the police. They met over a hanging. So if someone hadn’t killed himself I might not be here.
*
Very similar thing happened between my partner and I so I could say the same for our DDs. The oldest has asked how we met so I've skirted round it for now as she's a bit young.

Normandy144 · 08/03/2020 21:20

Our 2 children wouldn't exist if i hadn't listened and acted upon my bosses wife's suggestion that i add another country onto my sabbatical itinerary. I hadn't considered it but she made it sound appealing and i thought why not. My husband also was due to be there a week earlier than planned but was forced to delay by a week. If he had gone a week earlier we wouldn't have met in the same tour.

Original poster
OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 08/03/2020 21:21

Doubtful Dinosaurs, mil was an only child.
I often think that if dhs mum hasn’t sadly died and he hadn’t come back to live at home, my life would have been very different.

OP posts: