Meet and greet
It's Monday here in Steam City, otherwise known as Lexington. It's not even summer yet, and the weather here is already chronically humid and uncomfortable. At least we're getting rain every few days to keep grass and plants healthy....
Had a couple of experiences last week that were worth noting. Both involve meeting people, but in different contexts.
The first was a complete surprise to me, as I got to visit with a former roommate, the last one I had before getting married, for the first time in better than ten years!
He contacted me via LinkedIn to say that he was in town for a few days and asked if I'd be available to meet. It turned out that I had some morning time free last Thursday, so we agreed to meet for coffee that morning.
Here's a little background. This guy had always wanted to live in Florida, and after I got married, he made good on that intention and moved to the Orlando area, if my memory is clear. I heard from him occasionally (remember, this was before e-mail or text messages made staying in touch from a distance so much easier) and all seemed to be well.
Then, out of the blue, he called to say that he was a) moving back to Lexington and b) marrying an old girlfriend. Both surprising, but his call was to ask me if I would be one of his groomsmen, and I readily agreed.
We still didn't see each other frequently, though, by that time, he was working for a local office of a national bank and handled a loan refinance for us. Then he communicated to me that he had accepted an offer to transfer to a new loan center being started in Houston, and was relocating with his wife to that area.
Next time I saw him was probably 2007 or 2008, as I had a business trip that was going to take me through Houston, so we arranged to meet for lunch and had a great visit. We would trade messages once in a while, I routinely checked on him and his family following the hurricanes that affected the Houston area, and exchanged Christmas cards annually.
But last Thursday was the first time in so long that I'd seen him in Lexington. And, as he said to me, our visit almost resumed in mid-conversation, picking up where we'd left off. His kids are now teens, with one in college, and I now have five grandchildren, so our frames of reference are quite different than they were way back when.
He had traveled here alone to see family, so was heading back the day after we saw each other. Great visit.
The other meeting was quite different. There's a person whom I have followed on Twitter for quite a while who's as much a fan of the Cincinnati Reds as I am. She follows me as well, and through a series of coincidental messages, we determined we would both be at Great American Ball Park for a Reds game on Saturday, so we agreed to meet. My son and I made it to the area where she and her party were sitting, and we had a ten or fifteen minute visit and conversation. She is exactly the same in direct conversation as she is online, which is pretty refreshing.
I don't make a point of meeting people with whom my initial contact is online very often, but this was certainly worth a little effort to go and say hello!
Had a couple of experiences last week that were worth noting. Both involve meeting people, but in different contexts.
The first was a complete surprise to me, as I got to visit with a former roommate, the last one I had before getting married, for the first time in better than ten years!
He contacted me via LinkedIn to say that he was in town for a few days and asked if I'd be available to meet. It turned out that I had some morning time free last Thursday, so we agreed to meet for coffee that morning.
Here's a little background. This guy had always wanted to live in Florida, and after I got married, he made good on that intention and moved to the Orlando area, if my memory is clear. I heard from him occasionally (remember, this was before e-mail or text messages made staying in touch from a distance so much easier) and all seemed to be well.
Then, out of the blue, he called to say that he was a) moving back to Lexington and b) marrying an old girlfriend. Both surprising, but his call was to ask me if I would be one of his groomsmen, and I readily agreed.
We still didn't see each other frequently, though, by that time, he was working for a local office of a national bank and handled a loan refinance for us. Then he communicated to me that he had accepted an offer to transfer to a new loan center being started in Houston, and was relocating with his wife to that area.
Next time I saw him was probably 2007 or 2008, as I had a business trip that was going to take me through Houston, so we arranged to meet for lunch and had a great visit. We would trade messages once in a while, I routinely checked on him and his family following the hurricanes that affected the Houston area, and exchanged Christmas cards annually.
But last Thursday was the first time in so long that I'd seen him in Lexington. And, as he said to me, our visit almost resumed in mid-conversation, picking up where we'd left off. His kids are now teens, with one in college, and I now have five grandchildren, so our frames of reference are quite different than they were way back when.
He had traveled here alone to see family, so was heading back the day after we saw each other. Great visit.
The other meeting was quite different. There's a person whom I have followed on Twitter for quite a while who's as much a fan of the Cincinnati Reds as I am. She follows me as well, and through a series of coincidental messages, we determined we would both be at Great American Ball Park for a Reds game on Saturday, so we agreed to meet. My son and I made it to the area where she and her party were sitting, and we had a ten or fifteen minute visit and conversation. She is exactly the same in direct conversation as she is online, which is pretty refreshing.
I don't make a point of meeting people with whom my initial contact is online very often, but this was certainly worth a little effort to go and say hello!
Comments
Post a Comment