Weaving a Web of Meaning

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the local ISPI chapter. While the presentation was only okay, it was the attendees who made the trek worthwhile! Among those souls was Lisa K., an old friend that I served on the ISPI board with a few years ago and Nancy H., a former colleague.

Best of all, a woman named Melissa P. struck up a conversation with me after the event. Very soon it came out that she had graduated from the Case MOD program in May! (MOD is the MPOD's predecessor program.) Melissa said she was drawn to me because I mentioned some of David Kolb's work in a comment I made during the presentation. Subconsciously, she must have recognized a fellow traveler through shared language and culture.

I'm very excited to meet someone from the previous "generation" of my program. Now I have a direct connection to its past. Back on August 30 I had lunch with Tim M., an MPOD 2007 candidate. So now I'm weaving and strengthening the silks of the generational web.

Why is this important? I think it enriches my own experience to hear others' stories of similar events. It's as if I can time travel - viewing a little of the past and the future gives the present so much more context and texture.