Reconnecting with an old friend.
Ok, fine—most of the time I'm not excited about catching up on email.
This morning, with Vermont winter still clinging to my mustache from my walk, I slurped some coffee and scrolled through my inbox. I've tried various methods of email maintenance over the years, but I've learned that I typically dread email no matter what. Today, however, the sight of my inbox made me smile because my friend's name was staring up at me.
A while back, this person had sent me a pretty lengthy text message, out of the blue. We used to be super close, but admittedly we'd been going longer and longer between visits for a few years now. And the same was happening with texts and calls. Something that I hadn't known was that they'd been reading my writing regularly. And a topic I'd touched on fairly often was my struggle with loneliness and the geographic sprawl of my friend group. What's more, I'd written openly about feeling like my friendships had shifted pretty significantly with regard to how much of myself I'd felt comfortable sharing.
Oh... shit.
The reason I was excited to find this friend's name in my inbox is because we've started emailing each other weekly, or so. Thanks to that text, we'd been able to have a conversation about a whole lot of things. They'd taken a big vulnerable step in reaching out, and they'd listened earnestly when I'd shared my thoughts transparently in response.
In the time since we've started emailing each other, I feel like our conversations offer something they never did before: named intimacy, rather than inferred closeness. I get to hear about the latest with their toddler, the funny thing that happened after work, and their actual feelings toward making life happen every day. It's not small talk or once a year banter—we're not catching up because we're watching in real-time through short, no-pressure snippets.
As I read the latest dispatch from them this morning, I realized I was beaming. I'd been rocking forward in my chair, nodding along.
Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
163/365
Whatever it is that you've been meaning to say to that person... you should do it.
If you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along. And if something stuck with you while reading, I'd love to know what it was.
onward.
For more on this daily column and The MAP Year Project, read the backstory here.
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