It’s rarely a good decision, but I opted for sad songs on my commute this Monday morning.

A little Ani.

A little Prince.

A lot of tears.

Then, as I made the left to come across South Station I flipped to ‘Hand Clap Radio’ – my six year-old’s favorite Pandora station.  It plays the likes of Meghan Trainor’s Me Too and Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You.

Just as I started to bop into it, I noticed a pedestrian waiting for an opening to cross – and noticed the pedestrian was actually a friend.  A woman who my other friend Sara and I met four months ago when Sara and I ran a storytelling workshop for some employees at a local pharmaceutical company.

I rolled the window down and asked if she wanted a ride to work.

She was all in.

After seatbelts were fastened she asked how I was doing – I told her about the recent song choices  – and that, to make a very long story short, “I just basically don’t know what I’m doing.”

She laughed (a loving laugh) and added, “Story of my life.  Every time I’m very sure this is where I’m going and here’s where I’ll be in a year – bam – SHARP left turn.”

Her candor immediately made me feel better.

Then, just before we reached her destination she said, “You know everything I learned from you and Sara – from that workshop – it’s still making a difference at work, but now I’m using all of it to officiate a wedding.  I mean if I can get up in front of my whole company and share a personal story, I should definitely be able to get up in front of friends and say good things, too.”

Now I was beaming.

“Absolutely you can.  That’s amazing.  If there’s anything else I can do help, just let me know.”

“You are helping,” she said.

And as I dropped her off it was strikingly clear that she was the one actually giving me a lift.