A few days ago, I decided to update my contacts on my cell phone.
You know, people move or get a new job with a new email address, or people pass away. One of our very favorite neighbors, Liddy, passed away over two years ago.
Henry says, “Liddy made neighbor…a VERB.” It was really hard to delete her contact.
As I was scrolling, I thought, “Oh, I need to reach out to Abby. She has a new job.” Joe just got married. I wonder how he’s doing. Oh yeah, Tom. He’s been that school’s President for over 10 years! I’m emailing him an ‘atta boy’!’” And then, I got to my cousin, Dennis, who lives in L.A. And Theresa and Trisha, two of my closest friends from freshman year in college, they live in L.A., too.
When the wildfires broke out, I texted all three of them immediately. “Are you ok?”
Trisha texted. “We’re OK. It’s been crazy. It’s just SO SAD here…”
I called Dennis, “How are you this afternoon?”
“Ummm. All right,” he said. “My bags are packed and I’m ready to evacuate anytime.” “Oh my God, Dennis, you want to come to Oregon and stay with us for a while?”
“No thanks” he said. “I have friends who I can stay with here.”
Here’s my point.
It’s easy to keep in touch w people who are right in front of us. People we work with. People we live with. And other people who we love. But what about texting or emailing or calling someone who was a great colleague, who you might not work with anymore, but who was a terrific teammate?
Or what about a mentor or a former boss from your early career days, who pulled you into meetings that you might not have been invited to so you could learn the ropes? Or who boosted your confidence by taking you on that business trip to meet a key client and witness the process of how to build an authentic relationship? Or who always had their door open, for advice or support when work wasn’t going well? Say, “I was thinking about you today.” We all love to hear that!
My friend, Theresa, hand-writes Ma Mere, my 92-year-old mother, a long, newsy birthday card every year. And she sends letters in-between. Sometimes, Theresa calls Mom on the phone. And you know what Mom does? She calls me right away. “Tracy, I just got off the phone with your wonderful friend, Theresa. She is such a thoughtful person.” (She is!)
Or she’ll say, “Listen to the letter I got from Theresa today.” Then Mom reads it to me word for word. PS. Mom has kept every single one of Theresa’s cards and letters.
It took me scrolling through my contacts to see that I can reach out to a few people every week just to check-in with them, to let them know I’m thinking about them. And you can check-in with people, too. And if you don’t feel like it, do it anyway. There are lots of tasks we don’t feel like doing.
We never know what’s really going on in people’s lives. And a message from you could be just what someone needs in good times and in bad.
Thanks for reading.
Comments