As an investment manager and a marathon runner, most of my writings touch on one, or both, of those subjects.  This story is different, although it does have a bit of a running theme.  If my wife and I were not marathon runners, there wouldn't be a story.  But we are.  And there is.  It has become one of the more remarkable stories of my life…one that has sent a bit of a tremor through my core belief system.  Is there such thing as a coincidence?  Or, does everything happen for a reason?

First, I'll give some background to the story.  I have a personal running goal to run a marathon (26.2 miles) in each of our 50 states.  While I still have a long way to go (pun intended), I am a member of the 50 States Marathon Club and am working towards my goal.  My wife, Gina has the same goal…I think.  Well, she's never publicly said that.  Or privately either.  But, we travel and run together. It's a great way for us to see the country and try to stay in shape.

Our last races were in November.  Gina ran the New York City Marathon on the 1^st and I ran the Indianapolis Monument Marathon on the 7^th.  On Thanksgiving weekend, after our big holiday dinner(s), we were going through the marathon calendar to find our next race.  We wanted one in January that we could run together.  We found one that sounded good…The Mississippi Blues Marathon in Jackson, on January 7^th.  We registered for the race, booked our airfare and our hotel, and started our training plan. 

One more piece of background information:  To monitor online references of my investment management business, I have a Google alert set up for "Rall."  Each morning, I get an email from Google showing any links that reference my name.  A few of my blogs have made it in the past, but it's hardly ever about me or my firm.

Ok.  Now I can get to the story.

It was early-December and a fairly typical morning.  I stumbled out of bed around 5:30, grabbed a cup of coffee, and was at my computer by 5:40, logged on.  While going through my morning emails, I came across my Google alert email.  One of the links in the message read, "Bob Rall now has a page on Facebook."  I've had a Facebook page for several months, so I was curious why it just now made it to a Google-alert.  And of course I clicked on it.

It was Bob Rall's Facebook page, but it wasn't MY Facebook page.  Now, if my name was John Smith, this kind of stuff would probably happen all the time.  But I'm not John Smith and I've never run into another Bob Rall.  So, this was cool.  I took a look at the other Bob Rall's Facebook wall and was pretty surprised to learn that he lived in Jackson, Mississippi.  Gina and I had just scheduled our next marathon trip, and I find a Bob Rall that lives there!

I sent Bob a friend request.  In my message, I told him that I had never met another Bob Rall, other than my Dad, and that Gina and I would be traveling to his town in early January.  Keep in mind that it was still before 6am that morning.  That means it was just before 5am in Mississippi.  Within five minutes of sending my friend request, I received a message back from Bob.  We obviously share an early morning coffee and computer ritual.

Bob's message to me read, "When I woke up this morning and saw that I tried to friend myself, I figured I needed to take some time off."  I knew I liked him right away.  He warned me of some "moderate" hills in Jackson and we made preliminary plans to close the loop and meet when we visited Jackson.

Through the holiday weeks, my new friend Bob and I followed each other's posts and exchanged holiday wishes.  We were both looking forward to the first weekend of January and our chance to meet the other Bob Rall.  I was telling all of my friends and family about our plans to meet, and so was he.  Several Facebook friends, on both sides, were following the story with some degree of amusement. 

Through the course of our posts, we learned more about each other…and the story continued to become more interesting.  First, I noticed that his wife was named Elizabeth.  My mom's name was Elizabeth.  So, there are two sets of Bob and Elizabeth Rall…my mom and dad, and my new friends from Jackson.

Bob traveled to NC over the holiday to visit his sister Carlann.  He told her about the other Bob Rall he was meeting in a week or so.  She became intrigued and started messaging with me too.  It was through Carlann that I learned that, not only was Bob married to an Elizabeth, but their mom and dad were Bob and Elizabeth, but their mom went by the name of Betty.  What I didn't mention earlier was…my mom went by Betty! 

So, we have Bob Rall of Florida, son of Bob and Betty Rall, and Bob Rall of Jackson, MS, son of Bob and Betty Rall.  Want another twist?  Both sets of Bob and Bettys were originally from the Pittsburgh area! 

Could the story take any more turns?  Are we related?  Is all of this just a coincidence?  Or, is there another, bigger reason we've been drawn together?

TO BE CONTINUED…