Get Connected

Do you ever have a day where it seems like your attention fixes on a particular aspect of your experience? Where as you go about the typical, you suddenly become aware of the rare and precious that has been embedded there?

This morning I drove to Stown (stown: n, the geographical area spanning the narrow region halfway between The Sticks and Town.) I got lost on my way but when I called the lady I was meeting with she just laughed and then guided me in by cell phone. She didn't have to stand on the front porch and wave. She didn't have to give her enormous German Shepherd a biscuit so he'd leave me alone, and she didn't have to be so patient. But she was. We had a great talk that mostly focused on business but ran the gamut of things familiar to us both as well.

Then, this afternoon I was leaving Starbucks when a stranger approached and with no ulterior motives, paid me a sweet compliment. I smiled all the way back to the office.

So this afternoon, when I spoke with a renter's insurance agent via the phone, I was acutely aware that on the other end of the connection was a person. A real, live person with a real life, with dreams and losses and that innately human need to connect.

It wasn't even that I was inspired to be patient, it was that nothing was important enough to make that call a nuisance. As we assembled my policy, one endorsement at a time, we chatted about regional accents, places we've lived and the great Northwest which was the only region we had in common. It wasn't a long conversation, and I doubt we'll speak again. However, instead of a mere transaction taking place, for those moments we were connected.

Human connection is a beautiful thing. A blessing in a form that cannot be replicated. And for this simple gift, today, I am very thankful. God, you have made us humans with so many quirks and foibles, needs, strengths, tender spots. And while You alone satisfy the soul, I thank you for making our hearts to interlock. All my love!