Have You Experienced "The Butterfly Effect?"

[Doc Safari]

I'm not talking about the Ashton Kutcher movie, although that was an entertaining "time travel" sort of fantasy.

The term "butterfly effect" originally referred to what might happen if time travel were to become a reality. The premise is: If you could go back in time, and happened to accidentally kill a butterfly, you might return to your own time in the future and find that you don't recognize any of it. In a nutshell, the random death of that one butterfly in the past led to a chain of events that completely changed the history that you were familiar with.

Over time, the term has been broadened to include "any seemingly small, random event which completely changes your life or alters your apparent path in history."

A coin toss causes you to not get on a plane that crashes. You put on a certain rock band's T-shirt and that causes someone to start a conversation with you and that person offers you a career change. You randomly take a different route to work and end up avoiding a huge accident that kills dozens of people.

This type of "butterfly effect" actually happened to country singer Waylon Jennings. He should have been on the plane that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...c-died-122992/

Waylon Jennings was hired by Holly to play bass for him on the Winter Dance Party Tour, which began January 23rd, 1959, in Milwaukee. Jennings, 21 at the time, had been in New York City recording sessions produced by Holly, and after taking a train to Chicago, met up with the rest of Holly’s band. Problems first arose when the tour buses hired to transport the group began breaking down. After a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, on February 2nd, Holly decided to charter a plane for himself, guitarist Tommy Allsup and Jennings so they could fly to Fargo, North Dakota, instead of taking the long, frozen bus trip. Richardson, who was suffering from the flu, asked Jennings for his seat on the plane, and Valens asked the same of Allsup. When Jennings told Holly that he was going to take the bus, Holly jokingly told him he hoped the bus broke down, to which Jennings replied, “I hope your ol’ plane crashes.”

“God almighty, for years I thought I caused it,” the country legend said decades later in a CMT interview.

Of course it works the other way too. You turn down a side street to avoid an accident and end up being shot by fleeing bank robbers. You trade places with someone scheduled to ride a certain bus and the bus crashes killing everyone.

I will be the first to acknowledge that I don't believe in "luck". I think God never relinquishes control of the universe and all seemingly "random" occurrences are part of His overall plan. I don't wish to debate this; I'm just acknowledging it. YMMV and that's not the purpose of this thread.

What IS the purpose of this thread, is to gather your stories of a genuine "butterfly effect" in your life or someone you know, where a seemingly insignificant, random occurrence led to a huge change (or end to) a person's life.

_____________________________

Here's my "butterfly effect" story:


I've been with my current girlfriend for over five years. Prior to that, I had only dated occasionally and have never been married. Usually my relationships had ended due to incompatibility or just outright being bored with someone. I had resigned myself to the solitary life at the ranch and had mostly stopped worrying about it. I'm the type of person who's not afraid to be alone, and in fact I often prefer to be away from people. Finding a woman who dovetails into that aloof lifestyle proved to be futile.

One afternoon I had traveled from the ranch to the grocery store in the nearby town. I was eager to get my groceries home and put up before dark so I could enjoy some brews while looking at the stars later that evening. Upon returning to my truck from paying for my groceries, I noticed a piece of paper someone had stuck under the windshield wiper. I was used to the usual solicitations for psychics, roofers, and you-name-it endeavors. This piece was a little different. It was for a film showing the next day at a church I had not been to in over 20 years. As those flyers were under nearly every windshield wiper in the parking lot, I chalked it up to just random advertising and not by someone who might have known me from that church.

I read the flyer, and the film sounded vaguely interesting. I also had this "feeling" that attending that film might somehow be important.

So the next day, I got a haircut and made it to the church in time for the film. After taking my seat, I looked back toward the door occasionally to see if anyone I knew walked in. After 20+ years literally no one I knew still attended that church. As the seats filled up, a lady about my age was forced to sit down next to me. I didn't pay her any mind since I didn't already know her.

As the evening progressed, there were more and more opportunities for us to talk, and to make a long story short we have been together ever since.

The "butterfly effect" is that if that flyer hadn't been placed under my windshield wiper, I never would have met her. Our career paths are totally different and we had literally no common contacts prior to meeting. I'm thinking of framing that flyer.





To me, the "butterfly effect" is a random occurrence which causes a major event that comes after it to happen differently than was expected.

Merriam-Webster defines it as "...in chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the phenomenon where a small change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere."

Do you have a "butterfly effect" story?

[Clint]

Reminds me of the circumstances around Cliff Burton's death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJUCSN1_8xU

[Sam]

OK, I'll play and have a good story.

I love the music of Eric Clapton, have his CDs, VHS tape (yes from back then), learned to play his songs on the guitar. Over 20 years ago I had a chance to go to his concert in a nearby state, about 4 hour drive. So my buddy and I bought tickets and planned a weekend to see Slowhand. The morning of the drive to the concert came. I was a few minutes late leaving my house to pick up my friend. Then he was a few minutes late. It didn't amount to much total maybe less than half an hour off schedule. We hit the road, made the usual stops for gas, restroom, lunch, etc. We arrived at the city and went straight to the hotel. It took us a couple times around the block to find the access to the parking deck next to the hotel. After we parked we took the wrong stairs to the floor that led us across the street bridge to the hotel lobby. That set us back maybe a minute or two. We arrived at the desk, checked in, of course the front desk is always running slow. Then we finally walked to the elevator to go to our room. We got in the elevator and the door started to close, then a man rushed to the door and stuck his arm in the hold the door open. We managed to stop the door and re-open it for him. The man walked in with a back pack, by himself and leaned against the elevator wall. I started looking him over starting from his hand then up to his face. It was me, my friend and the stranger.

I noticed the ring and the cargo style pants he wore and in a split second I remember that's similar to the ring EC wore in many publicity photo. I pay attention to details. I noticed that he didn't pushed a floor button. I remember also that EC at that time and era wore cargo pants. Now he's back to jeans. When I saw his face my heart almost jumped out. I was two feet from the guitar god himself, Slowhand, Clapton, my hero. I said hi and of course asked him is he EC. LOL. He confirmed and smiled stuck his hand out and shook our hands. We told him that we were coming to see his show that night and he asked if we had tickets. Thinking back, I should have tried a NO but I said we had tickets. He said he hope that we will have a good time. I asked him if he would sign an autograph, which he graciously did. The elevator stopped at our floor and HE got out with us. We said good bye he went down one hall while we went to our side of the hotel.

The guy was down to earth, no ego, no entourage. He told us he just came from the guitar store in this city, it's a music city and the guitar store is famous. He bought a guitar that afternoon. Like he doesn't have enough.

So all those wrong turns we took, the slight delays, the length of the stops all came together on that fraction of a second that he stuck his arm to stop the elevator door.

If that ain't the butterfly effect, what is?

[TomMcC]

I don't believe in "random" occurrences, but that "every" occurrence is planned and mapped out for my ultimate good. If I was paying attention, I suppose, I could emphasize some seemingly random occurrence and connect it to another occurrence and claim the "butterfly effect".

[nimdabew]

Yes. When I was 19, I tried enlisting in the Marines so I could go to OCS after college and fly F18's. That was in 2005. Well, I was tacacardic by 1 BPM, resting at 101 and that was enough for them to deny enlistment. I tried getting my then thyroid problem fixed and tried enlisting again in 2006/early 2007. Well, because I wasn't overactive anymore I had gained a bit of weight and not I was 1 pound over their limit for my height for officers (was at 186, needed to be 185). Denied again. Then, after PTing like a mother ****er, tried enlisting again in 2008, but because the war was starting to wind down after the surge, they didn't have any pilot slots at the time (not to mention a psoriasis problem that popped up near that time) and I was denied a third time. I called it after that.

With a flight contract, officer, and regular enlistment, I would have ENDED my first contract in 2017. I would never have been a bush pilot in Alaska, never would have experienced a lot of the things ,I did, and never would have met my wife, had my first born, and bought my house that is totally kick ass. 1 pound of fat and one BPM would have prevented all of this.

[Diamondback]

I firmly believe that I'm alive today only because of being 4-F. I was in a pretty dark place for a while after The Ex pulled her cutesy little "Meet... Your Replacement" on me, and was ready to sign up for whatever would get me the chance to go kill bad guys the fastest and to Hell with the risks to me personally--and believe that had I made it Over There with that mindset, I probably would've come back in a box.

[Doc Safari]

OK, I'll play and have a good story.

I love the music of Eric Clapton, have his CDs, VHS tape (yes from back then), learned to play his songs on the guitar. Over 20 years ago I had a chance to go to his concert in a nearby state, about 4 hour drive. So my buddy and I bought tickets and planned a weekend to see Slowhand. The morning of the drive to the concert came. I was a few minutes late leaving my house to pick up my friend. Then he was a few minutes late. It didn't amount to much total maybe less than half an hour off schedule. We hit the road, made the usual stops for gas, restroom, lunch, etc. We arrived at the city and went straight to the hotel. It took us a couple times around the block to find the access to the parking deck next to the hotel. After we parked we took the wrong stairs to the floor that led us across the street bridge to the hotel lobby. That set us back maybe a minute or two. We arrived at the desk, checked in, of course the front desk is always running slow. Then we finally walked to the elevator to go to our room. We got in the elevator and the door started to close, then a man rushed to the door and stuck his arm in the hold the door open. We managed to stop the door and re-open it for him. The man walked in with a back pack, by himself and leaned against the elevator wall. I started looking him over starting from his hand then up to his face. It was me, my friend and the stranger.

I noticed the ring and the cargo style pants he wore and in a split second I remember that's similar to the ring EC wore in many publicity photo. I pay attention to details. I noticed that he didn't pushed a floor button. I remember also that EC at that time and era wore cargo pants. Now he's back to jeans. When I saw his face my heart almost jumped out. I was two feet from the guitar god himself, Slowhand, Clapton, my hero. I said hi and of course asked him is he EC. LOL. He confirmed and smiled stuck his hand out and shook our hands. We told him that we were coming to see his show that night and he asked if we had tickets. Thinking back, I should have tried a NO but I said we had tickets. He said he hope that we will have a good time. I asked him if he would sign an autograph, which he graciously did. The elevator stopped at our floor and HE got out with us. We said good bye he went down one hall while we went to our side of the hotel.

The guy was down to earth, no ego, no entourage. He told us he just came from the guitar store in this city, it's a music city and the guitar store is famous. He bought a guitar that afternoon. Like he doesn't have enough.

So all those wrong turns we took, the slight delays, the length of the stops all came together on that fraction of a second that he stuck his arm to stop the elevator door.

If that ain't the butterfly effect, what is?

Spot on that's a butterfly effect story--and a cool one at that! If you guys hadn't been delayed by multiple things you'd have never been in the elevator with him.

I have known several people in the music business over the years, some of whom have been around for decades and have lived all over the country. Most are bar band musicians that have simply outlasted their contemporaries. Some of my contacts have met many many famous musicians in their lifetimes, and I've run across a couple myself. I was actually in a college class with a guy who claimed to have been the bass player for the band Blues Image and that they fired him just before they became famous with "Ride Captain Ride." I've never found his name in doing research on Blues Image, so I don't know if he was being truthful or not.

I had a job in direct sales in the 1980's, and one of my appointments was Mick Box from Uriah Heep. I'm not sure if he still lives in southern New Mexico or not. He was actually in the phone book for a while as "Michael Box." He had sort of what I'd consider a "middle class house" for a rock star. He did have gold records all over the walls in the hallway, though.

One of my friends in the music business claimed to have met Eric Clapton at a recording studio in the South.

This is his story:

Apparently at one point early in Clapton's career he toured the South and wanted to visit some of the recording studios where some of the famous bluesmen had made their records back before there was even such a thing as rock 'n' roll. Supposedly other rock stars (like Mick Jagger and Brian Jones?) had also visited these venues as well. Thing is: people here in the states regarded these recording studios without much reverence since many of them were run down, or had been used primarily by black musicians, etc. , while the British musicians regarded them as shrines since they were smitten to the core by American blues music.

Anyhow, the person I knew who had encountered Eric Clapton didn't really know who he was at the time. He said he only realized the guy was a rock star after he became really famous. But he said Clapton was one of the friendliest, most down-to-earth individuals he had ever met. He played a couple of songs with some of them, etc., and in general was a joy to be around. According to my friend other British rock stars that had made pilgrimages to these same venues were uppity and had the arrogance that a lot of celebrities have. But not Clapton. I think people remembered him because he was not the normal "jerk" that a lot of rock stars are.

I searched for evidence online of Clapton making this visit to recording studios in the South but didn't really find anything on it, so I can't say with certainty that it really happened or if my friend confabulated the story.

At any rate, wherever the story came from, Eric Clapton is evidently a great guy and the real deal. Your post kind of dovetails with my friend's account of meeting Clapton.

[Diamondback]

I seem to recall there was something about that Southern tour on one or another of AXS TV's bios of Clapton. Might check those.

[rero360]

I was in Baghdad ‘06-‘07, one morning we leave the FOB to go on patrol and due to IED threats we had to take an alternate route. We got about a mile down the road and my driver bumped into a truck hauling water causing the rear driver’s side window to break free and fall to the ground. We turned around and went back to base to swap vehicles. Another convoy left as we came back in and went the same route we had taken, they got about another 100 yards down the road and hit an EFP, I don’t know if there were any fatalities but that should have been my truck in the blast.

[Sam]

Spot on that's a butterfly effect story--and a cool one at that! If you guys hadn't been delayed by multiple things you'd have never been in the elevator with him.
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At any rate, wherever the story came from, Eric Clapton is evidently a great guy and the real deal. Your post kind of dovetails with my friend's account of meeting Clapton.

Yes, had we gotten in the elevator just 1 second earlier, the door would have closed all the way and we wouldn't have been able to let him in. Or had we been delayed a minute or so, we might have missed him totally.

Anyway, call it anything you want, chance encounter, butterfly, butterball turkey, divine intervention, fate, .... everything that happened that day that led to that moment contributed to the encounter.

And Clapton didn't have to chit chat with us all the way to the 22nd floor, he could have said hi and that's all. He stayed on a regular floor like everybody else, it wasn't a dump hotel, it was a very nice place within walking distance to the huge concert arena. His band stayed there as well, scattered on several floors.

EC married a much younger woman that's from Columbus, OH. He has a house there that he lives there part time with his family. People said they see him occasionally in town doing things regular people do.