#22 Butterfly Effect
I went hiking with a friend the other day and we were chatting about our origin stories. He was telling me about how such small…
I went hiking with a friend the other day and we were chatting about our origin stories. He was telling me about how such small interactions (at least he thought they were small) added up to so much of his future. He met his wife through what seemed like the most minor tap on the shoulder, based on timing of a fire alarm, all of which led to a series of fortunate events. This got me thinking about all of the minor interactions I’ve had that have built up the relationships that make me who I am.
One example of a minor interaction that changed my life has to do with one of my closest and dearest friends, Erik. I’d met Erik at an attorney recruiting event that I’d gone to because a girl I’d had a crush on asked me to go with her. I was chatting in the corner trying to kill some time and because I have no filter I just blurted out “Hey man, I’ll be honest with you I don’t really like lawyer events. I actually don’t know why I’m at this thing.” For whatever reason, that caused Erik to give me his business card and next thing I know I had lunch with the guy a week later. At some point I think he still suspected (rightfully so) like many law students I was just looking for a job at the law firm he worked at. Erik’s law firm at the time required very highly technical backgrounds in order to join, so after meeting for lunch he called me up and told me I needed to go and get masters degree in order to join. I told him “I’ll be honest man I don’t want a job from your firm, I just wanted a friend. Let’s grab dinner.”
The next week we then met up in Alhambra and I distinctly recall Erik pulling up in his 1996 Nissan, beater of a car. Here’s this guy who is a successful attorney and could be like any other attorney and go out and buy a beemer or benz like most young guys do, but no, this guy chose to drive his car as a badge of pride and practicality. It told me he wasn’t about the materialism or flashiness, and made me instantly like him even more. We went to this place on Jonathan Gold’s list of best restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley called the Golden Deli. While we were waiting outside I just told him “I can’t keep up the PC act that I’m putting up man.” He looked at me as if “man, if this is him being PC, what Tony without a filter.” So I was myself, and Erik was himself, and we ended up hanging out for hours. We sat there as they shut the restaurant down around us.
A chance meeting, at an event that I should’ve never gone to, because of a person I don’t even talk to anymore, where I blurted something I never should’ve said, and I ended up making not just a friend, but a best friend. Erik and I have been friends for over a decade now and I was a groomsman at his wedding. Life is random, and sometimes we’re just living through the chaos.