Sometimes the headlines define the by-lines

Recently, I met up with a few friends I hadn’t seen in a long time to throw back a few beers and talk about where life had been taking us over endless hot wings. In the middle of our conversation, a waitress (not ours) called out to our table.

"Did you say The Shins?" She asked, several tables over.

A little stunned she heard us, I stammered, "Yeah?"

She speed walked over to our table, eyes wide, grinning, "Oh my God, I love their music! It changed my life."

One of my friends started laughing, "Actually, we were talking about getting kicked in the shins."
That brief exchanged quickly left my mind. I went back to checking dates in my planner and dreaming about the future. A week or two later that scene replayed itself as I was drifting off to sleep. I thought about how excited she was, how she though she shared a connection with a table of five.

It made me think about how often we look over those small connections that shape our personal and professional lives. It made me think about how we spend so much of our time trying to escape through YouTube videos or live vicariously thought reality TV.

I believe that while we’re waiting for something monumental to happen, we miss out on the day-to-day interactions that shape our lives. I believe that regardless of the feat or the obstacles that separate the person from their goal, we're all a sucker for the story. And, admittedly, we're just waiting for our Hollywood moment to come find us.

I rolled over, pushing the covers down slightly. I looked around my room, taking note of its set up. Everything in it, from the books overflowing from a trio of shelves to the mess of guitar chords and equipment in the corner has caused me to interact differently with people. These small examples may have drastically altered the path my life has taken to this point.

I thought about the many times I tried to form a band in high school and the 15 or 16 people I met in the process. I thought about the club soccer team that incorporated kids from six different cities. I had flashbacks to sophomore year, the team traveling through Alabama and Tennessee. We tried to get in as much trouble as we could, even shocking ourselves when we never got caught.

Hit forward and get the high points: proms to acceptance letters, good-bye parties to terrorizing dorms. From a mindset centered on girls, parties and just getting through class to worries about dry cleaning suits and job interviews. In each event there was something interaction that caused me to go down a set path. That path could’ve been completely different with a few opposite reactions over the past few years.

I lied back down, thoughts racing. Soon sleep washed over me as I went back to that waitress, how maybe if I'd known just one song, my life would have changed too.