One morning late in September, I called my dental office to make an appointment. The assistant who answered the telephone took my request and then asked for my name. When I gave her my name, Alexa, she immediately replied, "Oh, my daughter's name is Alexa. I have always liked that name."

I thanked her for the compliment, of course, and then mentioned how nice it is to hear of others with this name, as most of my life, all 42 years of it, my name has always been one of the unusual sort.

A few days later, on my birthday, I placed a call to my portable phone service to discuss a problem I had been having. The first customer service representative had the same name as I do. "Hello, thank you for calling (company name), this is Alexa, customer I.D. (number), how may I help you?" she said, then, "Can I start by getting your name, please?" 

I paused at length, as this had never happened before. I couldn't help but say, laughing, "Hey, my name is Alexa." She paused, then said, "Hey, what do you know," in that way of also being the recipient of an uncommon name. She laughed a little each time she had to say my name. At the end of the conversation, we both expressed our appreciation for that unusual moment and bid each other a good day and sort of "good fortune." Feelings of "good friend" also seemed to lurk in the air.

She referred me to a secondary customer service number to help resolve my obstacle.

When I called the number, the new customer service representative seemed and felt strangely familiar. She was also very friendly, nice when having to talk with a national company. As she was working, and to pass the time, she asked me how my day was going. My reply, of course was that it was going well, and then I mentioned it was my birthday. To this she said, "Today is my birthday, too, and my brother's birthday as well; we're (exactly) a few years apart." Before hanging up we both expressed our awe at the coincidence and wished each other happy birthday.

A few days later, a close family friend whom I share the same birthday day with called me to wish me the same. It had been over 10 years since we had wished each other happy birthday.

It can go without saying: I had an exciting and inspiring birthday month.