A conversation, a candle and a full-circle moment

I gave Rainn Wilson a Root Candle, some Medina merch, then we hit record. I was worried about this conversation, but not for the reasons you might think.

Before we get there, let me get this out of the way. This conversation drops in May on my 7 Minute Stories feed as part of The Storytelling University bonus series. If you want to catch it, head to 7minutestoriespod.com and follow the show so you get notified when it goes live.

Okay, so there were three reasons I was worried. First, I wasn’t sure if Rainn Wilson was vegan (I thought I had read this in an interview somewhere), and I had just packed a bag full of Malley’s chocolate. I’ve seen my friend and producer Ken Wendt do this whenever he sends gifts to clients outside of Ohio. So I copied him and then took it a step further, leaning into the Medina vibe.

And that’s the second reason I was nervous. I wasn’t sure if giving someone a candle before an interview was weird. And I had just stuffed this gift bag with Root Candles, a Medina Gazebo mug and a bunch of other Medina merch. What if he had a weird allergy? Giving gifts of any sort is so difficult.

And third, I felt terrible because my wife Cori is a huge fan, and she couldn’t be there. She was home sick with a terrible cold.

I didn’t really come to Rainn Wilson through “The Office.” Cori did. She loved it and told me all about the series. All about him. What I connected with was his more recent conversational work on his podcast “Soul Boom,” a show featuring conversations around spirituality, meaning and what it actually means to be human. That’s what pulled me in. That’s how this whole thing happened.

Our teams connected and found a window the day after he gave a talk at Bowling Green State University, my alma mater. So now I’m back on campus, unexpectedly, years later. We’re set up in a hotel I used to drive past as a student but had never stepped inside – one meeting room, one door, right next to the pool and sauna, with no working temperature control.

As my friend and producer Ken Wendt and I start setting up the mics, the room is already a sauna. Perfect. Then I get a text and see Rainn Wilson in the lobby with his team. I’m standing there, pointing at a map of Ohio like I’m pitching something. “See this? This is Medina.” I’m explaining how the county looks like a staircase compared to the rest.

We meet. As we walk down the hallway, I say, “Just a heads up, the room’s basically a sauna.” He smiles. We’re both a little shaky. Three coffees each will do that. Already something in common.

We sit down. Before we start, I slide him the bag of gifts – Malley’s chocolate, a Medina mug, a Root Candle. I tell him about Medina, the square, what it feels like to grow up here and live here. He says, “Next time I’m through, I’ll have to visit.” I’m hoping to take him up on that.

Then I get to it. “I hope you’re not vegan.” He smiles. “I’m not.” Relief. I tell him Cori is heartbroken she couldn’t be there. He says, “Tell her I’ll see her around the bend.”

We do the conversation. And somewhere along the way, none of the other stuff matters anymore. Not the room. Not the heat. We both seemed hyper-focused and present – the coffee helped. Then we had an awesome conversation about the art of storytelling.

It flew by, we said our goodbyes. Rainn was off to Notre Dame for another event and I had to eat because I was starving. Afterward, Ken and I packed up and headed to Campus Pollyeyes, the place with the best cheese and chicken breadsticks in the world.

We only had a few minutes to eat because Ken had to jump on a call, so we took it to go. So there I am, sitting in my car in a college town restaurant, eating breadsticks while Ken’s on Zoom in the parking lot. Back at my alma mater – a full-circle kind of day.

I walked in worried about chocolate, candles and getting everything right. And walked out grateful for the conversation, the art of storytelling, my friends and my hometown I can’t stop talking about.