A man was watching one of his wife’s home movies–of a 1988 trip to the amusement park, Sesame Place, in Pennsylvania–when he noticed a little boy in the picture wearing the exact same glasses he had when he was younger.
Ryan Spencer, the man, quickly rewound and replayed the part again, again, and again. Soon he knew that he was looking at himself about two decades ago.
“I was kind of joking around and said, ‘Wow, that looks like me,’” Ryan, 40, told ABC News.
“And sure enough, that was me.” “We rewound and paused. We rewound and paused, and we just couldn’t believe it,” Jourdan, 36, added to the outlet.
He and his wife, Jourdan, met on a blind date. But little did they know they had been at the same park when they were much younger.
In the video, Jourdan’s mom Janice and her sister, Jillian, are seen waiting for her. Ryan, who is wearing glasses, then walks into the frame, ABC reported.
The two grew up about 45 minutes driving distance from each other in New Jersey before they got married in 2007. “We did a complete double-take,” Jourdan Spencer told NJ.com about the date. “We paused, we rewound, we paused, we rewound, over and over again. We told everyone we knew.”
“We had told people about it, but couldn’t prove it,” Jourdan said of the water slide video.
Both families saw the video. “Everyone’s reaction was pretty much they can’t believe it and just in awe of the coincidence,” Ryan said. “My dad thinks it’s so awesome that he had a video camera and that he taped it. My mom is like beyond excited,” Jourdan said.
When looking at old photos from 1988, the families confirmed that both families indeed went to Sesame Place at the same time.
“It just matched up with the time, how old I was, the big glasses, the hair. You can just tell it’s me,” Ryan said.
Discussing the strange incident, Ryan and Jourdan did find one other time when they had been at the same place before meeting: a Rolling Stones concert in 1989.
“We were meant to be,” Ryan said.
The couple has since gone back to Sesame Place with their three children.
“[Their daughter] thinks we’re famous. She just doesn’t understand. She asked, ‘How did daddy know that you were there?’” Jourdan said.
The two attributed a spiritual, predestined aspect to the meetup.
“Life is more than just randomness. There’s a reason that people cross paths,” said Ryan.
“I do really believe that people come into our lives, and every person we meet has a purpose,” Jourdan said. “And we definitely were supposed to meet.”
