Doc,
without sounding like a complete nutjob but I am 1000% Positive we all were a collective on the other side. Wherever and whatever our souls were before we were born we knew what we were going to see and experience before we got here.
When I was 9 years old my parents took my sister and I to one of my dad's work friends house for a christmas dinner. It was pretty fancy. I remember wearing a dress.
The table was full of adults talking and my dad's coworker (the wife) was sitting directly across from me. She reached and grabbed my hands from across the table. She told me I was the reason she invited my family. She told me that God specifically picked me and told me there were tons of children waiting to be born, just for this time and she wanted to meet me. I remember tearing up a bit and I was confused.
It stuck with me all these years and I didn't understand until a few years ago why she said that.
Now, I absolutely understand.