A man forgets his iPad after a case competition and decides to retrieve it, stumbling into a dance rehearsal by Indian students. He watches their performance and realizes the forgotten device wasn't a mistake but a gift, teaching him to be kinder to himself about his own flaws.
Chapters
Have you ever had that nagging feeling like you're missing something? Like you're going like, ah, like you're leaving your apartment or the house or something. You go like— but then you go. So I had that. I was like, I don't know. So I just went to the car and got in the car. And then when I got home— actually, it was the next morning on Saturday morning— I realized I left my iPad. In the lecture room, now an iPad and reading glasses. So I brought an extra pair, but I was like, oh, I left that over there. And that's not something that you just go like, ah, c'est la vie. You're like, I gotta go get that thing. But now I've got this like pretty much all morning thing. I'm going like, oh, what am I gonna do? Well, should I go over before or after? But you know how that thing, now you know that thing is there and it's kind of gnawing on your brain? Can you all identify with that? Yeah. Okay, and then it's like there and it's not, it's not like horribly consuming, but it's just always like that little thing back there, you know? So I did the case competition. And what we did with the case competition is we gave water bottles out and we gave some merch, some t-shirts and stuff like that to the 5 winning teams. And it was great. And then my daughter was coming into town with 3 kids and her husband. And so they said, well, we'll be there about 1:00, which is right when the competition was over. And so I got finished with the competition. And we talked until when? 3:00. Until 3:00. And I'm going like, ugh. And I look at my phone. Which I'm always late for stuff, and there's a reason for that, but I'm always late for stuff. And I look at there and they say, hey, we're doing an Easter egg hunt, so we can't meet until 3. And I'm like, okay, I got a little bit of respite. Love, right? It's like, thank you, universe. You're taking care of me. So, I get in the car and then I'm ready to go over and meet them at the hotel they're at. And I was like, but there's this iPad. Right? And it's like, and if they're here all day today and then I've got this today. And as you know, with that kind of stuff, the longer you leave an iPad sitting someplace, chances of getting it goes down. And so, I literally sat in the car. And I don't know how you are with this kind of stuff, but I got, kind of got frozen. In the— I should go. I should go get that. Okay, take a deep breath. Now which one should I do? And I did that for about like 5 or 6 or 7 minutes, which is an eternity. Have you ever done that kind of like— it's better if I move. It's actually hurting both things if I don't move, but I can't decide which one to do. Are you going with me on this thing? Sure. I want you to think about— this isn't my story. This is our story. Right. So, then I'm sitting in the car over in the Grant Street garage. And then I drive over to that parking place, which is 2 and a half blocks away, going like, this is gonna take— I mean, this is like, that 2 and a half blocks to me is like a 15-minute walk one way. So, it's like, OK, so I'm gonna be another half hour late. I'm not liking that so much. And I'm going like— and then there's this piece. Now, I want you to pick this one up too. Do you ever beat yourself up for stuff that you consistently do poorly? Think about that thing. Mm-hmm. Do you beat yourself up for things that you consistently do poorly? I forget stuff. That's one of my things. I don't tag stuff in my brain. And so, I leave stuff all over the place. Like, in different countries I've left stuff. Okay, so think about that thing that you kind of like, here I am again. I'm doing this thing again. Okay, everybody got your thing? Yeah. Okay. So, I'm sitting there in the parking, again, in the parking spot now over by Walk going like, why do I do this? I always do this. And now I'm in this dilemma. I'm late for them, but now I've come over here. I may as well go and get this thing and just be massively late for them. So then I get out of the car and I start walking over there. And get over there and then I go up to the 3rd floor and it's on the other side of the building, which is a thing for me. Getting here was a massive thing for me because I didn't know where we were. So, I know the room was clear, but then I got to the room and then as I'm walking to the room, I'm like, what if there's an exam being done in that room right now or a class in the room? I know it's a Saturday, but there could be stuff going on. Do I interrupt the class or if they're doing an exam or not? And it was a big classroom, so I get to the edge of the room and 2 people, 2 young women come out of the room and I go, oh great, there's somebody in the room doing something. I was like, oh man, I'm here. I've made this choice now. Just keep going. Just do this thing. So I walk in the room and there's a little bit of a space there and then it opens up into the whole room and walk. And it's like 45 Indian students doing a dance thing. I'm like— and of course, they stop the music and all eyes are on me. I'm like, I'm not here to audit you guys. I'm just getting my iPad, which I saw. I was like, I'm just getting my iPad. And so I get my iPad and so then I go like— What do you do with your iPad? What are you guys doing? They're like, well, we just won a dance competition, a regional, and now we're rehearsing for nationals. I was like, that's awesome. And they say, do you want to see it? I was like, sure. So, right? If I didn't have a dance background, I'd be like, no, no, no, go ahead. But I'm like, oh yeah, I got it. So then I sit down and it's like this Like Bollywood, but like amped to 11. They're just like hitting it. And they're just— and the back and forth and the in and the out and all this kind of stuff. And I'm eyeing a couple of the dancers going like, mm, mm, mm. They're the ones. And I'm just going, this is awesome. And then they finish and they said, oh. And I was like, I loved it. And by the way, 40 years ago, I was in Perdura Perdura Dance Company. Oh, seriously? Do you have any points for us? I was like, sure. So I start giving them points on like, I loved how you moved in and out, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff that you fill the stage and everything. And where's the guy? There's a guy and there's a you over there. And he's like, ooh, me? And I was like, yeah, you're a warrior, man. You were like, you could do a, you know, like a haka, a New Zealand haka or something because you were just like Bam! And they're all like, yeah, you're the warrior! So now he got labeled the warrior. And I said, thank you so much, guys. This is just great. So then I walked away and I caught up with my family. Now, I know that's a long story, but the point of it is, I thought about that later on and I thought about the universe being perfect. I thought about the perfection Of leaving my iPad there. It's like my iPad knew it needed to stay, right? And then I had to go through the whole thing of like this whole inner thing. It's such a little deal, right? But it was a thing. But part of it is noticing the thing. Okay, so that's what I want, part of the learning from this story is give yourself a little bit of leeway, but also learning from the thing. And so then I was like, if the iPad needed to stay there, if I had gone right over after the 180, wouldn't have seen him. If I'd gone over after I'd been with the family, wouldn't have seen it. But that was perfect. And when I talk about the university being perfect, that's kind of what I mean. It's the perfection of that kind of thing. And how did I get there? By a flaw. By a thing I don't do well. But the universe said, okay, we'll use that. We'll give you this gift. So, then I was like, oh, you know what? I leave stuff behind and that's okay. And it gave me a way to look at that flaw and go like, there's reasons for these things. Maybe beyond my comprehension of why, and I won't always get feedback like being able to see an awesome Indian dance as a part of that, but there's always a reason. And if it wasn't that, then it could have been somebody else's iPad that they needed and I didn't need it and I can afford to get another one and they can't and they've got it. There's a whole bunch of things that— and I'm literally telling people, if the universe is perfect, there's a lot of things going on in the universe that's way above my pay grade.
