Our Weekender Angel

I believe there are signs everywhere. People come in and out of your life every single day, and if you make the choice to be open, you never know what can come from your encounters.

In college, my close friend Kelli and I took a trip up to San Francisco. It was the USC annual weekender trip. This was a time in our lives when we were lost, and looking for signs everywhere. We wanted hope when it came to relationships, careers and simply just life. We didn’t know where we were going, but we knew we needed to start figuring it out.

As we sat in a hotel bar one evening, we met this wonderful woman and all Kelli and I wanted to do was talk to her for hours. We were so desperate for answers when it came to life and she out of nowhere appeared with her husband, so eager to share her years of experience with us. We asked her what her one piece of advice would be for us and she said “When you are wrong admit it, when you are right, shut up.”

Kelli and I excused ourselves for a few minutes to use the restroom so excited about our new friend, and when we arrived back to where we were sitting, she was gone. We both were in awe wondering where she might be, and as we sat in shock that she had disappeared, we both felt this newfound understanding and energy when it came to this world. She left a mark on us to this day, and at that moment we deemed her our “weekender angel.”

I have been fortunate enough to have many “weekender angels” in my life. At times I can be hesitant to talk with strangers, perhaps it is because I was raised my entire life not to talk to strangers, but when given the opportunity to have conversations with people I have never met before, the lessons I have learned have been invaluable.

This advice has been what I use to guide me in my personal and work relationships. Each and every day, I do my best to practice it (which means also telling my stubborn side to shut its mouth each and every day). And although challenging, I am thankful that I received this advice at a pinnacle point in my life.

Thinking back to this moment reminds me to smile at a stranger, and open my mind to the possibilities that are out there.

So just a little story to remind you to bring yourself back to the present as much as possible because when you are looking down at your cell phones, or facebooking, or tweeting, your “weekender angel” could be passing you by.