Who knew I had a network?

I did.

To a point.

I mean, I knew I had a network of theatre colleagues.  Twenty-some years involved in New York theatre, and I’d better.  If  I don’t, I have been seriously wasting my time.

What surprised me recently is the realization that I have a wider, more diverse network than that. And I’m very thankful to have made the discovery.

Last week, I took a trip to North Carolina with my mom.  We were going to meet my brother-in-law and my niece.  The purpose of the trip from our end was to hand over a car which is being passed on to my soon-to-be-licensed niece.  From theirs, it was to get the car and to look at several colleges.  “Soon-to-be-licensed” equates in this case, as in many, to “contemplating college applications.”

So, great!

We took a look at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill–bustling, beautiful campus–and Duke University in Durham.  Not so bustling.  Equally beautiful.  (The students weren’t back at Duke, yet, while they were already arriving at UNC.)

All that is kind of beside the point.

When we got back to the hotel, my niece and I decided to go swimming.  (Also not really the point.)

Down in the pool, treading water and trying not to get our hair too wet–(Don’t ask me.  It was something about air conditioning and hair dryers)–we were discussing the colleges and what she thinks she might want to study.

She mentioned one possible career path, and I said, “You know, I know somebody who does that.  If you want, I could ask him to talk with you some time.”  She mentioned another possibility, and I said, “I think I was in a play with somebody once who is doing that now.  I bet she’d be glad to talk to you.”  A little bit later, she mentioned that she and her dad might stop to see Wake Forest on the way home.  I said, “I know somebody who went to Wake Forest–” and she said, “Of course you do!”

It was funny–although maybe you had to be there–but it was also an interesting lesson.

Most of us are well aware that networking is important.  A lot of us don’t think we’re very good at it.

But our networks are bigger than we think.

You know more people in more places and in more circumstances than you can possibly imagine.

Of course you do.