AHHH! This absolutely made my day. I'm smiling ear to ear right now. :)

Synchronicities is right! I had orders to go to Germany in 2001 but elected to separate instead.

And several years prior to army days, my Slovenian aunt taught my sister and I to sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" in Croatian. Apparently it was a hit by a singer from Zagreb.

Thank you so much for responding. It's amazing to know there are such meaningful coincidences out there in the world.

And I'm glad you finally found your destination.

Perhaps, across time and space, I made the left turn at Albuquerque for us both.