The Connection Warren-Watchung Edition Apr/May 2019

www.theconnectionsnj.com PAGE 56 • Homemade Pasta • Traditional Bar Food • Rotating Craft Beer List • Full Bar offering Specialty Cocktails and Wines Something for Everyone! Authentic Italian Cuisine. American Fare. Italian Flair. 908.647.2272 www.barcilento.com 37 Plainfield Road • Stirling, NJ HOURS RESTAURANT BAR Sunday 11:30am - 10pm 12pm - 12am Monday 3pm - 10pm 3pm - 12am Tuesday - Thursday 11:30am - 10pm 12pm - 12am Friday - Saturday 11:30am - 11pm 12pm - 1am Casual Dining • Family Owned Live Entertainment Check website for schedule Follow us on Facebook for our Weekly Events Craft & Draft Beer Daily Make your Mother’s Day Reservations Now! MOTHER’S DAY $ 10.00 OFF Dinner for Two $ 70 and up Check out Cinco de Mayo Festivities! Join Us For CILENTO TIME! Special Prices Offered 3-6pm Daily The definition of synchronicity is “the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.” Random Connection stories certainly have a synchronicity aspect to them. However, those of you who have read this column over many years, likely sus- pect that I believe there is a definite causal relationship, even though we don’t have the ability to figure it out. Do you think there is a causal con- nection, or just synchronicity, to the following 7 stories? I was sitting in a coffee bar across the street from my dermatologist in New York City, killing time until my appointment. My phone rings and a former colleague, Darren, says to me, “Dan, a few years ago you mentioned your dermo in New York. Can you give me his contact details?” Two years ago, I started a new workout regimen. Part of that included tracking the number of workouts. About a year into my new program, my wife, Abby, and I had a weekend get- away. We arrived at the hotel and checked into room 221. I then changed into my gym clothes and headed to the fitness center. I checked my phone where I tracked my progress. I was on my way to workout 221. In 1997 Abby and I attended a birth- day dinner for my Aunt who was cele- brating her 80th birthday. The party was held at the Toulouse restaurant in Washington, DC. The next weekend, one of my colleagues, based in Okla- homa City, took his family to Washing- ton. They ate at the same place, not knowing that I had just been there. I traveled to Chicago often on busi- ness when I worked in the financial services industry. On one trip, I made a call on a prospect, Citadel, a company that is very protective of its intellectual property. All visitors are escorted to a designated meeting room reserved by the Citadel host. Our escort was con- fused and took us to the wrong room. When we entered it, a friend of mine, from New York City, Nishu, was sitting there. On 9/11/2001, the emotions of the day prompted my wife to make a mon- tage of old family photos. She grabbed a pile of images, turned one over, to find a date printed on the back, 9/11/43. We were invited to our friends, The Siegelmans, for a cookout a few years ago (you may be a reader of Linda’s Connections column on New York City food). Shortly after arriving, we were introduced to other friends of theirs. As we talked with them, we learned that close friends of their daughter had just moved into our former apartment in New York City, where we lived before moving to Warren over 25 years ago. Finally, my given name is Dan, not Daniel. I also have a middle initial, “A” but no middle name. Sometimes my first and middle names are run togeth- er on documents into Dana, which is my wife’s middle name. I’m not exactly sure why I received just a middle initial, but no confusion on my wife’s middle name. It is the street on which her Aunt lived, where her parents con- ceived her. SYNCHRONICITY By: Dan Rosenberg Dining Out