Awesome Small World Moment in Rochester!

Who doesn't love those small world moments? You're sitting at a Waffle House in Georgia and someone at the next booth overhears you talking about Minnesota. Next thing you know, you're talking, and discover it's your neighbor Ned Nederlander's brother Nathanial Nederlander.

Earlier this week, Karli McElroy, Senior Director of Placemaking at, Downtown Rochester Minnesota, visited the studio and brought along Katie Adelman, the new Director of Content and Communications with the RDA. She's FROM Ortonville, MN, so I had to ask...

- Do you know Mark Linquist?

I'm from O-Town, of course I do!

- He's the greatest...

(in unison) He's the greatest!

We chatted a bit about Mark and then went on to do some radio stuff and when they left, I was still buzzing from the Small World Moment.

The guy Katie and I know is Mark Lindquist. Motivational speaker, singer, and, honestly, one of the kindest people you'll meet. I met him while he was still an Ortonville, MN High School student and a member of the Minnesota Dakota's Key Club District board (I was an assistant advisor for the board).

Small World Moments always get me thinking about how exciting it is to be connected to people we thought were strangers. Then, how it gives us that feeling of a common bond.

The past is filled with regrets, right? But small world moments don't bring those up, they bring the good stuff out. How the person connecting you fills your heart. That's a wonderful feeling.

And now, here I am thinking about seeing Mark in concert up in Fargo (check out the video below). I walk into the theater and in front of me were hundreds of people that knew and loved him. What a rush.

Not one of them was a stranger...they were friends I just hadn't yet met.

Listen to James Rabe 6a to 10a on Y-105 FM