Sometimes it takes the small talk of a friend to open up the door of our minds.
It was 30 years ago when I went to one of my jewelers to pick up a new creation.
“Hello. How are you?,” I always began.
“Oh, I’m great,” was always the answer.
After some chit chat the jeweler glanced up towards the ceiling, down to the floor, to the left, to the right, and then replied with a chuckle, “What is this?”
“You mean your office?” I asked.
“No. You know….life. What is life? Is this real?” The jeweler peered around again and continued, “Are we real?”
I tried not to roll my eyes in front of the thoughtful man and finally replied, “I’m not sure.”
“Do you ever wonder of things like that, Mike?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “But I try to focus on taking care of jewelry customers.” I tried to be sincere. I do hope it came out that way.
The jeweler eventually disappeared and I never saw him again. But since that enchanting morning in 1991, I have asked myself that question every day since. Is this real? Am I real? After all, we all live on a tiny planet, in a tiny solar system, in a tiny galaxy, in a tiny universe. Are we too small to be real?