Expect the Unexpected (245)

Last week, I produced and presented a program right here while I was on a cruise ship in the South Pacific off the coast of New Zealand. And a week later, here I am still on the same cruise and presenting one more time a live show right here from the South Sea.

Program last week was very special. I drifted in and out because of spotty internet, but I just enjoyed doing it and following my passion no matter where I am. When you get on this cruise ship, they give you a piece of paper when you board, and it tells you exactly where you’re going to be, what time the sun will set or rise, and exactly what time is dinner and what’s for dinner. It tells you the temperature, the weather, the latitude, longitude, everything. And we make plan, we pick up our destination, and we think we know exactly who is going to be on the voyage with us.

But life is full of surprises. I have learned that many, many years ago. And always to expect the unexpected. I didn’t wake up a couple of mornings ago thinking that I’m going to meet somebody that I went to high school with, that was in my same class, all the way on the other side of the world, at the least expected place, on a cruise ship that has maybe five, six hundred people on it.

Yeah, 50 years ago, or maybe more. When I say it out loud, it sound like a massive mountain of time. In many ways, I guess it is. And 50 years, the world have turned over so many times, thousands of times. We’ve seen fashion comes and go, technology change right in front of us—internet, fax machine—and we raised families, and then we have certainly changed. And here we are.

Back then, we thought that we knew exactly how things going to go, and I have learned that life doesn’t just go. It unfold right in front of you. And here it is. I was disembarking from one of the ports, and I’ve heard a woman said to her husband or partner, ‘Hey, Shmulik, be careful.’ And I said, ‘Ah, that sound like an Israeli name.’ And I start talking to him, and we discovered within a matter of 45 seconds that we have been in the same class.

We didn’t recognize each other at first, but then we slowly remembered. What a surprise. What a beautiful, incredible surprise. It’s really made a difference for my trip right here on this cruise.

So wherever you are, always expect the unexpected, and you never know who you’re going to meet. Somebody from your future or somebody from your past. This is Atane Batat and you are on East to West, and I hope you stay with me for the next couple of hours. I may go in and out, but it’s still going to be a live show.”

Tonight’s Playlist