life lessons a la lug nuts

The other day I had to get work done on my car for (ahem) the second time in two weeks and after enough time at the autoshop, you start making friends. I was talking to one of the mechanics and he asked me what a 317-area code was. When I told him it was Indiana, he said, "Oh! I love Indiana! Y'all have a great ba-"

And at this point I said, "I know!" thinking he was about to say basketball team.

But then he said, "band."

And I said, "I know!" Because it had already come out of my mouth.

But then I didn't actually know, so I had to recover and ask some follow up questions.

Turns out, he plays the saxophone and loves to watch college bands. He especially loves our drummers.

On a normal day, being a Hoosier, people ask me about (1) Peyton Manning or (2) IU Basketball. On a March Madness day, people ask me only about IUBB.

But this guy wanted to talk about the band. So I talked to him about the band, because we were chilling at Pep Boys and he was giving me a discount. So why not talk sax?

When he said it, though, it made my heart happy. Because he was excited to talk about the band, and excited to share his Indiana knowledge with me. And I love finding people's sweet spot - finding exactly what makes them tick. I loved watching his eyes light up as he explained the way they played in sync and won an award. He didn't light up about my lug nuts, but he lit up about those drummers.

And it also made me laugh at myself, because it's amazing how easy it is to get wrapped up in our tiny worlds. My world, where I assume everyone is going to say Indiana basketball. Or where I assume people care about the things I care about - and should align with my thinking. My world; my perspective. And not just where I assume it is that way, but sometimes want it to be that way. 

But that's not how it's supposed to be. Because this world is big and we all have different experiences. We're moving at 10,000 miles per minute - rushing all over town - into Pep Boys, into work, to the grocery, to the gym, out with friends - and it's easy to get wrapped up in these tiny worlds we create. But sometimes we have to slow down, listen a little longer, and allow ourselves to see someone in a new light.  When you do it, you might find that people can surprise you. In fact, you might even surprise yourself. And what's better than that?

Almost nothing. 

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