Friends

Close connections with friends and family are critical to emotional and physical well-being. If you have moved around a bit, geographically or job-wise, you probably have relationships all over the place. Even if you haven’t moved around a bit, it’s likely that your friends have moved away – jobs, retirement, grandkids.

We’ve adopted new ways of staying in touch. Whereas we used to run into people at the neighborhood store, now we keep up with their family news online. Whether you love social media or not, it’s help me reconnect with extended family and friends who live far away who I haven’t seen in years. I also find that different generations gravitate to different types of communications media, so I’ve had to keep learning.  

During the early days of COVID, when just about everything was shut down, my neighbors and I started doing happy hour in our driveways. We brought our folding chairs, our snacks, and beverages out to our driveways and spent time together. Fall rolled around and we did a couple of birthday pizza parties in the driveway. That has continued into continuing birthday celebrations at someone’s home or a local restaurant. Someone I know cooks hotdogs out in the front yard for the neighbors to stop by and visit.

Former colleagues and I still get together for walks or an occasional meal. My prophetic (futurist) community from a previous location still meets to listen to ideas and encourage one another. Having different groups with different interests appeals to the different foci in my life. I find that to be healthy.