A man ejaculates around 300 million sperm in sexual intercourse. That means on the night each of us was conceived, 299,999,999 other sperm were vying for the finish line with the one sperm that became us. A wrong turn down the fallopian tube, a faulty flip of the tail, and one of the hordes of barreling competitors would have outswum us, won the trophy of our mother's egg, and would now be living our life instead of us. How easily this planet might have been home to a completely different set of inhabitants!
Nothing we will ever accomplish in life—not if we win a Heisman trophy, a Nobel Prize, or the presidency—can compare to the improbable victory we achieved to get here.
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The sperm gives half its chromosomes though, right? So the sperm that "became us" should actually be, "The sperm that helped create us"?
Lets not forget that of all the eggs that could have been released that month, this particular egg that contributed to half of your DNA also was the one that was released and reacted with the sperm.
But all in all, its a very interesting thought! I feel somewhat accomplished.
You're right, Lindsay, this thought would also work for eggs, though the numbers aren't quite as impressive. A woman produces several hundred thousand eggs per lifetime (all present in her ovaries from birth), while a man produces several hundred million sperm per ejaculation.