Connections

Lean on me, when you’re not strong, I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on.  Bill Withers

What a few weeks.  Whew.  I mean really, what a couple of weeks!!  The world as we know it has all but stopped by none of our choosing.  I keep thinking about the Lloyd Bridges character in the movie Airplane.  “Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking….Looks like the I picked the wrong day to quit drinking…Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue”  😊

Seriously, as you well know, the way we live, from what we do, to where go, to how we interact, has been totally altered.  Our large made small connected world has become a danger because of its’ connectedness.  Strangely the best way to be a friend to those closest to us right now is to put as much physical distance as we can from one another.   “Social distancing” and “shelter at home” are phrases that are now part of our daily lives when just days ago I would have said “social distancing” was from the Seinfeld episode with the close talker.

What’s especially ironic for me sitting here in my new Louisville home, is that as February rolled into March, winter into spring, I had crafted a grand plan to “get out there”. I had decided that it was time to get out and about, have some fun, including getting out and exploring my new city to try to meet new people.  I even took the step of getting off social media altogether because I was determined to make real human to human connections and not settle for likes on a post.  Plans on my calendar (some paid in advance mind you), included a trip to Nashville for the SEC tournament, a comedy show, The Lumineers concert at Yum, hiking dates around town through an app I discovered called Meetup, church on Sunday through at a friend’s invitation, Yoga sessions in the Highlands, and an open house/party at my condo for all my new work friends on my birthday weekend.  I WAS GOING TO GET OUT THERE PEOPLE, I REALLY WAS!!!

As you can imagine, while I still got to experience a couple of those adventures, most never happened.  My cancelled plans while disappointing I know are nothing compared to what other people are going through.  I’m blessed if for no other reason that I was apparently the only person in the world who was stocked up on toilet paper prior to all this happening. 

Here’s the thing.  The real thing.  What I’ve learned from my disappointment and from the forced isolation of the past couple weeks is simply this: my instincts are spot on.  My desire to make real connections, to find people with whom to do life with outside a device is absolutely what I need to do.  I’m blessed with a family that would do anything for one another.  My new co-workers are working their way into my heart as family as well.  There is love in my life for sure, but I have more to give.   I think we all do…and that may the real thing #2. 

 If we don’t come out of this as a more compassionate society, a more empathetic group of world-dwellers, a more “love others as you love yourselves” people, then all this pain is just pain.  It’s not a vaccine or bail out that’s going to make the future bright again.  It’s love expressed through basic human connection.   Love given and received person to person, heart to heart.  Generous, sacrificial, nothing else like it love.  Only love can take the worst pain and mold into something beautiful.  Only love can mend what’s broken inside us.  We can’t way for anyone else to do it.  It’s up to us to live and love in ways that make this world a better place.  It’s a lot to risk. There’s no guarantee it will ever be returned, but I think it’s worth it. How ’bout you?     

#BLF