I flew to Tampa this afternoon for a talk I'm doing in the morning, and as usual, I used the time to connect with another good friend I hadn't seen in a few years. This was one of my best friends from college, and yet was another reminder that it's not easy but always worth the effort.
Knowing that I was going to be in Tampa, I reached out to this friend a few months ago to check on her availability. Unfortunately, getting a hold of her was not easy. After numerous unreturned phone calls and e-mails, I was almost ready to give up. I didn't take it personally, but was certainly frustrated nonetheless. Eventually, we did connect and arranged to meet at her house for dinner tonight.
Of course we had a great time and were quickly able to pick up where we left off since we've been good friends for more than 30 years. When I was leaving, she thanked for me being persistent and not giving up on her.
This is definitely a theme that I've seen and repeated multiple times this year - that building and maintaining relationships is not easy. It takes work and persistence and effort. Everyone is busy and has lots of excuses. And yet, we all claim that relationships are the most important thing to us. I would argue that we make time for what we really value. The many friends I have around the country are a direct result of the effort I make to nurture them.
Note: As a side note, I'm thrilled to report that this blog has now gone over the 50,000 mark in terms of page views this year. And that doesn't include the many subscribers who receive the story by e-mail each day and therefore don't need to go to the site. I've received many e-mails from people telling me about acts of kindness they're now doing as a result of their increased consciousness about kindness. While that wasn't necessarily my goal, it's a wonderful byproduct. Keep it up!
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