Nice Little Saturday and Communication
Today was supposed to be the Celtic Classic up in Bethlehem, but it’s pouring down rain so we decided to skip it. That’s a bummer, because the Celtic is one of our favorite signs of fall. There is nothing like standing out on the street drinking Guinness and watching Highland Games before the parade of bagpipe bands comes down the main drag and everyone flocks to the food stands for some Scottish grub.
The good news is I got to spend the day with Cali and Arvid, my two favorite creatures in the whole wide world. Life has been so busy lately that it seems like we haven’t had a day to just shut everything down and chill out together. Arvid and I got out for a rain walk earlier this morning while Cali went to yoga. I’ve made it through about 30 pages of Stephen King’s “The Dark Half.” Cali and I got out and ran some errands. Went to the Halloween store (got a sweet Camp Crystal lake sign), picked up some way overpriced Eagles apparel, swapped an empty propane tank at Home Depot. You know, a nice little Saturday for a couple in their late-30s. The rain is still coming down as I write this in the early afternoon, and that’s just fine by me. I’m enjoying chilling on the couch and watching some college football, but I am hoping to get down to Broomall later to watch some friends compete in a jiu-jitsu tournament.
I’ve gotten some good feedback recently about how I interact with friends and coworkers. It’s really important to me to show up for others, and I do my best to build rapport and relationships with just about everyone in my life. Making these connections has become a very natural thing for me. Checking in with someone, remembering a detail about something they have going on, offering help, listening, asking questions, empathizing. All of these things have helped me develop friendships at work, the gym, the dog park, and within my neighborhood. People have told me that I make others feel comfortable, and I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. There is a lot more to be written about my approach to establishing meaningful connections with others. Not like I’m some kind of guru or something. Hell, I may have no clue what I’m talking about on this subject. But something has been working for me lately, and I hope to keep expanding my network of friends and contacts.