I’m at home and winding down with my glass of red wine after a Canadian going away party that gave me a gift I wasn’t expecting.

You always think … “I hope I meet someone fun … or, I hope it’s a good group of peeps” … or maybe I’m the only one that thinks that and if so, then maybe be careful if you invite me to your party in the future for fear of my expectations .. LOL.

But alas, my honest self is here to reveal that those expectations are always on my mind … That I meet someone or I learn something that I can apply in my life and become a better person because of.

So tonight …. I’m happy to say that the evening exceeded my expectations. And sometimes my expectations are high (which don’t judge, isn’t a bad thing) … but sometimes they truly are as grass roots as the farm that I grew up on.

This is today’s view from the road to my “home” where I grew up and where I learnt so many lessons that I’m still applying to my life today.

Why?

Well tonight I met someone who grew up similar to me … on a farm … who made it from nowhere to somewhere … and who now looks at life from the same viewpoint as me.   Yes, one side is capitalism …. no shame there, but also from a perspective of purpose, planet and people.  And, my God, it was refreshing.  Just the whole conversation and perspective blew my mind and inspired my thinking.

And yet I can’t help but find it fascinating that you can meet someone at a party for people that you know (relatively) very little, and you can connect with a random stranger in a profound way, even though you’re from completely (and I mean completely) different subsets of the world.  But (and here’s the good part) with a glass of wine (or two) and LOADS of curiosity … you can uncover that your simplistic upbringing has created a similar mindset and belief system that, unbeknownst to you, is probably a reason why you’re sitting across from each other talking about a subject that would bore the rest of the guests in attendance.

But for me … what I loved, is that I could talk for hours and feel so grateful for the random encounter that somehow, now, seemed perfectly curated.

Because no matter if you’re 33 … or 46 … married with two kids … or twice married and no kids … from East Germany or Northern Alberta … Communist or Capitalist …. it is really amazing how much we can feel and learn and appreciate in a short period of time, and with absolutely no reason whatsoever, feel an amazing bond of energy that lifts your soul and makes you take a pause in life … if only for a moment.

And the icing on the cake is when you can share a story about the long road “home” … that only had two left turns after 5,6, 8 hours of driving …. before you reached a vast farmland that seemed to offer so little, but in the end gave you everything you needed in life …. then I’ll call that a hell of a win for a Saturday night.

Beyond grateful … for where I grew up … and for where I am today.