Big Changes Come In Small Packages: 30 People Share The Craziest Butterfly Effect That They’ve Experienced

Decided I would rather use my bathroom than a portapotty. Found my wife cheating, she attempted suicide, I moved multiple states away. In the 7 years since, I have made nothing but positive changes and went from $18/hour laborer to a well respected person in my profession making 6 figures. I'd probably still be working that dead-end job.

Aside from that, without recounting all the details; I went to see a doctor about a splinter from chopping firewood, 6 months later they removed most of my kidney with Renal Cell Carcinoma. Without the splinter I'd likely be dead from kidney cancer

I had to call my heart surgeon to give him my new insurance #s (I had only just gotten them because the person who had them had the flu and was not getting back to me) as soon as I got my numbers, I called surgeon - the receptionist said, "oh, hey, we just had a cancelation for this Friday, do you want it?" Of course I wanted to get it over and not wait another month. decided to take the open heart surgery cancelation appointment (a month before my actual appointment), and well, surgeon said that thank goodness I did because once he got a look inside, he realized I would not have survived to the original appointment date.

So, if the insurance lady didn't have the flu, I would have gotten those numbers a lot sooner, and never gotten the offer to have the surgery when I did.

Someone else's flu saved my life.

14 years post op! I had a brand new aorta that will last a lifetime and a aortic bovine valve...it’s due to run out soon, but I still feel good.

The story that describes the discovery of needing surgery is even more bizarre bc I did not have symptoms, and I was running 3 miles a day, 30 years old, 2 healthy child labors (if my youngest made it to full term, he would have been too big and the aorta would have burst), clean eater...

A long strange trip …

I decided to invite my chem lab partner to lunch on the first day of college, just to be friendly and try to make more than 1 friend at school. We met up with the only other friend I'd made at school so far. He thought my lab partner was cute, invited himself to hang out with her, and then fell in love with her roommate instead. He ended up married to the roommate - they've been together for 22 years and have 2 children.

In high school I took an intermediate biology course. I had never done biology before but was good at science generally so I thought the intermediate course would be a good fit.

My science teacher of a couple year previous happened to walk into my class to talk to the biology teacher and she spotted me in the class.

She asked me what grades I had got the previous year. I told her and she nodded and left. A minute later she came back in and asked me to gather my belongings and leave the class. I was pretty sure I was in trouble for something I couldn’t recall.

She led me to another classroom and sat me down on an empty chair. Then she just started teaching. Turns out that she was running the advanced class that year and just decided to steal me as a student.

I went on the take biology at undergrad level, and then a masters. I ended up doing a PhD in immunology and now work as an advisor for Pharma companies.

It gets better though. I decided I wanted to do my masters in London, and met a girl on the way. We are now 10 years in and own a house together.

All that because that teacher happened to look in my direction.

So a few years back, I lived in Nice (South of France) for a while. As a musician I would make a bit of extra cash busking, and one day, I figured I'd go and busk at the promenade 'd'anglais by the sea. It's usually packed, and it just a generally pleasant place to be. I set up, played a couple of songs and was doing pretty well and making a decent amount of money. Then suddenly not one, but two of my guitar strings snapped (I even remember I was playing 'The Scientist' at the time).

I was massively gutted and decided to cut my losses early. I stormed off home (by the station) in a bit of a sulk at having to re-string my guitar and cutting short what was essentially one of my most productive days of busking since moving there. Literally one hour later, my phone starts to blow the fk up with family and friends freaking out and asking if I was at the promenade. It was Bastille Day, 2016. The truck drove into the same crowd I was playing to, killing 86 people, including my at-the-time gf's uncle. I had two other friends who were amongst the 458 injured. I moved home the next month because it was too much, and haven't been back since.

It's hard to explain, sometimes I think I was super lucky, sometimes I just kind of cry and wonder why I was lucky and others weren't. It's surreal, and despite what people think... it's a truly horrible feeling.

Watched ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ and got so annoyed at the candidates not knowing a simple question about Katy Perry, that I applied. Got in. Got to play. Won a lot of money. Booked a holiday to a dream destination with that money. Met my husband there. We now have a 1 year old son :)

I had to renew the sticker on my license plate a couple of years ago and really didn't feel like sitting in the waiting room by myself forever so I told my mom I'd take her out to dinner after if she came with me.. The guy working at the counter turned out to be my mom's long lost biological brother. If she hadn't come with me I would have never known

My husband- He found out after 18 years that his moms side of the family was Spanish, not Mexican. He found this interesting and changed his country to “Spain” on MySpace instead the US where he really was. Meanwhile in Australia, I was helping my friend find Spanish people to add as a friend as she was learning the language. I came across my now husband and decided to send him a friend request as well. We got along really well and met in person after 3 years. Have been together 11 years, married for 7. If he didn’t change his country to Spain (and only for a day or so) we’d never know each other existed.

When I was in 8th grade (13 years old) I had a really long bus ride home so would pass the time by reading. One day I faced the very serious situation of nothing to read and a minute to grab something in the library, and for whatever reason I grabbed a book on astronomy. That book was amazing and grabbed me like nothing else had before. I remember being excited to realize every astronomer on Earth was 13 years old once too, and that was a career you could actually do, even if you were from Pittsburgh.

Anyway, today I am a professional astronomer who studies gigantic space explosions for a living. There was a lot of work to get from that moment to this one, but I’m always grateful that I picked up that library book!

Under pressure from my sister (“you’re young! You need to have fun!”) I went out to a concert and then to a bar after. Had this girl I barely knew *wingwoman me to a cute guy playing pool, next thing you know I’m celebrating my three year wedding anniversary.

I didn’t want to go out that night but did due to pressure from my sister. He didn’t want to go out that night, but his friend wanted to play pool. And I literally can’t imagine my life now if I hadn’t had that random girl wingman me. Our paths never ever would have crossed otherwise. Of course it took me a long time to admit to my sister her role in the whole thing.

My existence.

When my dad was about 20, he needed a phone number so he called the operator from a pay phone, she gave him the number, he hung up, and she accidentally refunded the money back to the pay phone. She called the pay phone back and asked him if he could put the money back in, which he did and hung up again. She accidentally refunded the money again and had to call back again to ask him to put the money back in; he did and hung up again. She was so flustered, she refunded the money again and called back again and my father got to chatting with her and got her number. They set up a date (which she stood him up for), then she forgot his name when he called her again, then they actually got coffee and four years later were married. This coming August it'll be 50 years for them.

If my dad didn't need that phone number, I wouldn't be here. My dad still calls it "the most expensive phone call he ever made".

My desire for pizza set off a chain reaction that destroyed my family.

One day got home from school and really wanted pizza. Family was poor so spontaneous food trips weren't always in the cards. Really worked my pouty face to my mom and begged to go to the local pizza place for dinner. She said alright. While chilling there I saw my uncle walk by, and I was like "WTF, uncle X is that you?". Now you might say well he wanted pizza what's the big deal? Well he lived several states away so to arbitrarily be in town and not tell anyone was strange.

Turned out he was having an affair with his sister in law my aunt on the other side of the family. She was basically a money grubbing wh*re and the family protested. One thing led to another and everyone hates each other now and we haven't had contact in like 20 years.

I just wanted some pizza :(

About a year ago, I went to a study group with some people in my major. Now i have the closest set of friend I could ever ask for. They helped me when my my car was broken and I couldn't get to and fro from college, when I didn't have enough money to buy myself food. Now, I have a good job, and two of my friends and I are getting an apartment together in a couple of months.

About 10 years ago, There were no pc games installed with our computer back then to play so I tried using windows XP's movie maker out of boredom. I didn't know that I'm going to enjoy it and take it seriously.

Now, I'm currently working on a tv/film production as a video editor.

Out of university, looking for a job and exhausting all the online resources. On a whim, I looked in the career section in a print newspaper that was lying around in the house. (We never subscribed to that paper, I dont know why it was even there).

Got the job in a different city, met someone who is now one of my best friends, who introduced me to their friends, who introduced me to their friends and so on, until I was eventually introduced to my wife. If I'd found a job where I actually planned on working, there is absolutely no way I would have crossed paths with any of these people.

4 years ago a kid I barely knew from school invited me to a six flags. I was a bit of a loner at the time and I heard rumors about this kid being weird, so I intended to not go.

On the day he wanted me to go, I was feeling extra bored and decided on a whim “why not?”. So I went and met this kid and two of his friends I’ve never met at a six flags.

4 years later and that kid is my best friend, and I have 3 other very close friends I met through him. Not only that, but I also met my first girlfriend because of the connections some of my new friends had. It transformed my high school years from being alone to having an amazing group of friends I could do almost anything with.

I intended to ask my best friend to be my best man one day, and I don’t intend on ever getting out of touch with any of them. I’m home from college now, and we are going to have a lot of fun together. Best decision I’ve ever made.

The older I get, the more I am constantly cognizant of the vast cascade of seemingly insignificant decisions and actions that led me to where I am. For example, a decision 25 years ago to change a refrigerator light bulb before going out resulted in my being at the "wrong" time and place so as to get mugged, which resulted in my decision to move out of the city I had been living in, which resulted in my meeting my wife, and from there to having all my kids and the whole shebang. I would have had a different whole shebang had I not changed that lightbulb that afternoon, but the path to the present leads through that (and a thousand other) similarly trivial decisions…

Was going to carpool with my aunt to a family gathering. At the last minute I decided to go by myself so I could leave early if I wanted. It was a ways out of town and I didn’t want to be stuck there. On the way there she drove off the road into a ditch. She was ok but the passenger side of her car was totally smashed in.

My parents dream was to have a "famous child". When my older sister's figure skating career ended in her early twenties, the spotlight shifted to me. I was a fine oboist, and took private voice lessons with intent to audition for the local music faculty (opera?). In any case, there was a lot of pressure, and while I was successful at school and classical music, it was never enough.

At 17, before senior year began, my sister gifted me a kitten. My parents had given her 2 in her senior year and the implication was that it was my turn. When my sister dropped me off, my parents locked me out, saying that if i wanted my own pet I needed my own place. So I found one - that night. I worked 3 jobs to support myself through senior year and graduated with entrance scholarships to both of the local universities.

I couldn't afford a music degree while living on my own, even with the entrance scholarships. And good thing. Entering the work force showed me how much I love active jobs. 3 years later, I enrolled in college and became an industrial mechanic/millwright, to my parents great shame.

After a few years of this I landed a sweet contract where I work on Saturdays and Sundays but receive a full week's pay. Although I am a living beacon of disappointment, I comfort myself with my 100k a year job, 2 day workweek, and 2 cats.

Being kicked out over a kitten saved me from wasting years chasing an improbable career just to please my parents.

I sent a friend from secondary school (who I had a huge crush on) a message saying happy birthday a couple years after we left school. Did the whole 'we'll have to catch up soon!' thing, not expecting much. He replied with 'how about Monday?'. I saw him that Monday for a coffee. Next month will be our 6th anniversary. Best thing that ever happened to me.

My friends joke I'm 'queen of escaping the friendzone'.

My wife got an email from her old colleagues the day we returned home from our honeymoon, asking if she wanted to star in a short film they were doing for fun. She said sure, and asked if I could come along, as she knew I had an interest in movies, but at the time I worked in life insurance and was miserable.

It was more than an interest- I had always wanted to make films, but never made the right connections with people and didn’t know where to start.

I made friends with the producer of that short film my wife was in, and 11 years later filmmaking and video production is my career. I’ve shot feature films, short films, video for tv and web, and all over the world because of that one email to my wife. Changed our lives!

Oh, and that original short film never got finished lol

The first day I ever signed up for internet back in 1999, I installed mIRC (because it was on the starter disk my ISP gave me) and joined a random chat room. Over the course of the next year the “regulars” in that room became like family to me. We would talk about everything. All that practice made me a fast typist and WAY better communicator than I was before that. They would even help me when I had trouble understanding something in my college classes. I also met my husband in that room, and we’ve been happily married for 18 years. Others from our little IRC family are married, too, and we still keep in touch. All because I randomly chose THAT chat room that day.

I have one for another person.

In 2014, I was coaching my twins' (M/F) rec flag football team. My oldest player has a younger sister who came to watch a practice - we will call her Grace. She saw my daughter on the team, told her dad "There's a girl on that team!" and the next week, she was on my roster. Her and my daughter became fast friends. While the flag football season was wrapping up, I was putting together my roster for the upcoming rec volleyball team. At the end of one of my practices, my daughter invited Grace to play on the volleyball team together. Grace had played the previous season and not cared for it too much. Grace agreed and played from rec to club then to high school with my daughter. My daughter (graduated last year) and I watched Grace, as captain, lead her team to a state championship and she has a D-1 scholarship for volleyball next fall.

The other day I was driving home from work, traffic was light and I was behind a car with a numberplate that started "KFD". Decided to duck through KFC drive thru for chippies with extra salt as a little treat to myself.

They took forever to bring them out and by the time they finally did (all told about 10 minutes later), traffic has slowed to a complete halt.

I need to get over a bridge that's normally six lanes which has now been reduced to one. Turns out it's due to a massive collision involving several cars. When I finally get to the point where I'm driving past, I notice the numberplate on one of the cars, that same KFD numberplate.

If I hadn't stopped to get hot chips I'm fairly sure I'd have been in a major collision.

During middle school, I asked the pastor of my parents' church if I could practice piano on the church's grand piano on my way home from school each weekday (I walked, and it was on the way).

He heard me playing Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin and asked if I'd like to try the church's large pipe organ (which I did, and was thrilled by the experience!).

Not long thereafter, he asked me to become the church's "interim organist" after their musician died unexpectedly - a position which lasted until college began.

I was given two start dates for an entry level job in a large organisation.

The date I choose to start led to working in a small but high profile team so I got lots of exposure with senior management and I became the can-do-guy who'd fix a million tiny problems. That recognition led to promotions, a fantastic career, further professional qualifications and working overseas for several years. I also met my best friend and my partner.

If I'd chosen the other date I'd have been sent to a data processing pool and been fairly anonymous.

I was parking my car on the street and was about to shut it off but I noticed my car got pretty dirty last time I parked under that tree, usually I don't care but I drove forward another space. The next day I came outside and my car's rear suspension was damaged and tires were bent. Someone had smashed into it and took off. I went on to spend about $500 in repairs and my insurance couldn't cover it unless I found out who did it. I was very upset I couldn't go to work and the tow truck driver pointed out that a neighbor had cameras up. I went as a last resort to ask those neighbors if they caught anything. the next day they emailed me footage of a vehicle that hit my car and parked a few houses up, they found the vehicle and took pictures of the damages too. I ended up getting $4000 from their insurance company.

In high school I read House of Leaves and one day was trying to explain the concept of the book to a friend. My drama teacher overheard, said it sounded a bit like Pale Fire by Vladimir Nobakov. On his recommendation I read that book which sparked an interest in Russian literature, then I branched out from there, always seeking out new reading opportunities. My quest to find more reading led me to major in English and become a teacher myself. Being a teacher at a Title I school has had a huge impact on my political philosophy as well.

So basically I am who I am today because my drama teacher suggested a book to me.

I was in the Navy and for my next assignment, I asked to go to several places but I just didn’t want to be sent to Quantico, Virginia (I was an officer that managed public works). I had already done my time on the east coast. So of course the Navy sent me to Quantico.

My second son was born there with some rare and significant medical issues. The doctor that invented the surgery he needed was in New York and Quantico was as close to him as I could have hoped to be stationed. He performed the life saving surgery he needed.

A year later, I was going to leave the Navy but they enticed me to stay with Grad school. I went to CU Boulder. That same son developed some additional complications. He needed a Malone ACE surgery. The doctor who brought that surgery into the US was at Denver’s Children’s Hospital and performed his surgery.

After that, I was stationed in Kings Bay, Georgia at the sub base. I was close to getting out and during a security review of our site (post 9/11 security checkup), I ran into a contractor civilian that I hadn’t seen in a decade since we got our undergrad degrees together in New Mexico, my home state. He was now a manager at an amazing company in Albuquerque and was building a team. A month later he brought me out for an interview and I have been working in my home state, close to my aging parents, in my dream job, with healthy kids. I couldn’t be happier!!

I never go out. I rarely like to drink and I'm pretty introverted. For some ungodly reason I decided to go to the gay bar that was having a drag show. I was on probation at the time as well, so I really REALLY shouldn't have been out. I see a guy walk in and think he's cute, but again, introverted so I'm never going to talk to him. 10 minutes later some chick walks up to me and asks see that guy over there"? It was the guy that walked in. "Yeah" I replied. "That's my brother and it's his birthday. You should talk to him." So I did. That was 8 years ago and we've been married for 5 now. He pushed me to get my life back together and after meeting him at my rock bottom I now have an AAS in Computer Networking and work in IT. Best decision ever.