history

I was talking with a guy last night and we started talking about our miniature vans.

Now I've never been a car guy. I figure if a car can get you from your house to the movie theater or frisbee golf course...then that's about all you need.

I never had a stigma about the miniature vans. I get no sense of pride/shame/envy out of my car or other's cars. They're just utilitarian to me.

So I was more just interested in how his vehicle was exactly like mine. It wasn't like finding my evil twin or another show as good as Man vs. Wild, but it was just something that was mildly interesting to me.

And that's when he said, "so after we filed bankruptcy we were excited to be able to get this van at such a great price"

bankruptcy?

I would have never guessed it. This is a great guy with a great family that's working hard to support folks outside of his immediate family...and he'd filed bankruptcy.

I'm not sure why that shocked me - maybe it was because he said it so matter-of-factually???

like, "right after I survived the avalanche we all went skiing" it's just something that happened...la di da...

So that got me wondering - what are the things in my life that are just matter of fact to me, but are somewhat surprising, or even shocking, to the people I meet?