It is a small world after all

I love "small world" stories. I love experiencing them first hand and hearing them from others. I love them because their very existence speaks to a larger, more powerful universal force that connects us all. I believe this universal force is always at play in each of our lives, but at times is more tangible resulting in seemingly impossible connections that form the basis for extraordinary "small world" stories.

My last "small world" story, Miraculous Reunion, was posted August 7, 2014, after I bumped into my dear friend Deepali and her family at the Maritime Museum in Duluth. I hadn't seen her in the 26 years since I left India as a Rotary Exchange Student. Some would say this meeting was merely coincidence.

After experiencing and hearing about similar "small world" happenings, I no longer believe in coincidence. I believe in an invisible source so expansive, loving, and all-knowing that it takes my breath away when I try to wrap my tiny, limited human brain around it. My heart, however, knows that every "small world" happening is the visible manifestation of that larger force making itself known in a gesture of infinite support and extraordinary unconditional love for those who experience and hear about these events from others.

Here is my newest and most extraordinary "small world" happening.

On Thursday night, August 6, I was at the opening reception for my largest-to-date art show at Pizza Luce, a popular, downtown restaurant in Duluth, MN. Toward the end of the evening, I noticed a man sitting in the center booth across from the reception table looking at me from time to time. When his group got up to leave the restaurant he approached me to say he enjoyed my artwork. He also said he was traveling up to the Northern Tier near the Boundary Waters from Texas. I now know that he was referring to the Boy Scouts of America Northern Tier High Adventure Program located outside Ely, MN near the Canadian border and Lake Superior. I mentioned that my sister lives in Texas.

Others from his group joined the conversation. I asked them where they were from in Texas and one of them, Mark Bush, said, Arlington. When I mentioned that my sister owns Jason-Little Road Animal Clinic in Arlington, Mark said, "Dr. Froelich is your sister? My daughter Grace works for her!"

In that extraordinary "small world" moment I felt incredibly loved and supported, as if my sister was right there beside me cheering me on for all I've accomplished, as an artist and a person, despite the miles that separate us. "May you live knowing all things are possible" - Esther Piszczek

(L-R) Jared Bush, Esther Piszczek, Mark Bush at Pizza Luce, 11 E. Superior Street, Duluth, MN, August 6, 2015. In the background, "May you live ..." a collaborative piece with calligrapher Brenna Jordan of CalligraphybyBrenna.com