Are we real?

Sometimes it takes the small talk of a friend to open up the door of our minds.

It was 30 years ago when I went to one of my jewelers to pick up a new creation.

“Hello. How are you?,” I always began.

“Oh, I’m great,” was always the answer.

After some chit chat the jeweler glanced up towards the ceiling, down to the floor, left, right, and then replied with a chuckle, “What is this?”

“You mean your office?” I asked.

“No. You know….life. What is life? Is this real? The jeweler peered around again and continued, “Are we real?”

I tried not to roll my eyes in front of the thoughtful man and finally replied, “I’m not sure.”

“Do you ever wonder of things like that, Mike?”he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “But I try to focus on taking care of jewelry customers.” I tried to be sincere. I do hope it came out that way.

The jeweler eventually disappeared and I never saw him again. But since that enchanting morning in 1991, I have asked myself that question every day since. Is this real? Am I real? After all, we all live on a tiny planet, in a tiny solar system, in a tiny galaxy, in a tiny universe. Are we too small to be real?