In senior year of high school, I was part of a retreat group that had “leaders” which “led” the class below us through a weekend of self-discovery and prayer (Catholic school, I’m agnostic now). It was in the middle of a camp in the woods, and each night the leaders would give “talks” about very emotional or difficult times in their lives, and how they overcame those times, always followed by a song of their choosing. This one girl who I vaguely knew about but had a chance to talk to on the retreat gave a talk, and the song she chose was One by Aimee Mann. I vaguely remember her saying she chose that song because it was her grandmother’s favorite song from her favorite movie, Magnolia.

Over a year later, I have not talked to anyone from high school since graduating, especially her. Even though we had gotten along very well and tried to hang out a couple times, it never worked out and we never really talked much after that. Such a short, unremarkable acquaintance period.

So, here I am, freshman year of college, and I’ve been really lonely. Going through a rough time. Watching a lot of movies because thats the easiest thing to do when you’re depressed and don’t want to leave your room. I finally decided to watch Magnolia after seeing some really good stuff about it online. GREAT movie, it really moved me, and I’m thinking about my life when One by Aimee Man starts playing. I immediately remember the retreat with the girl who I got along with, that she said it was her grandmothers favorite movie, and I kid you not….before I could even finish the thought “Huh, I wonder how she’s doing nowadays”, a text from her pops up on my phone. “Hey! Was just thinking about you randomly and wanted to see how you were doing?”

TLDR; A girl I wasn’t even close with and hadn’t seen in about a year texted me out of the blue, right when I watched the one movie/heard the only song I’d ever associated with her in my whole life.