By Marc S. Axelrod
It’s coming on to three years that we’ve all been gone.
From family. From friends. From our workplace and colleagues.
Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. Everyone got screwed. Everywhere.
Many of us have already reconnected. And that’s good. Although sometimes with unpleasant consequences (Oops, superspreader).
But missing and being missed focuses us on the real heart of the issue – we need each other.
Time passes too quickly.
Think about those friends and family members who you have been meaning to reach out to, let alone to go see.
That’s right, it’s been longer than you realized.
The problem is, we let that happen even in normal times. And these are still not normal times.
So the problem is worse.
When I was a kid, I had an aunt whose hobby was to cause friction in my dad’s side of the family. They would all constantly fight, and then avoid each other. When they would eventually bury the hatchet, years of contact had been lost.
That’s no way to run a family. Even one that doesn’t like each other very much.
That generation of my family is long gone, and to this day I have almost no contact with most of their kids – my cousins. Maybe it’s genetic.
How much do you let that happen in your family? With your good friends.
If at all, it’s too much. You never get that time back.
My wife and I take care of our daughter’s kids all the time, especially since the stupid pandemic started. But when their whole family got Covid a while back we had to stay away for more than ten days.
It was painful and frustrating.
I missed them.
And the dangerous nature of the situation added a different element to it. How bad is it for each of them? Will they be okay?
Couldn’t do a thing about it. Covid took all control away. Other than buying groceries and leaving them at the front door.
And in ten days the grandkids seemed to have changed a bit, especially the two-year-old. Percentage wise, that was a big chunk of her constantly developing short life.
But on a recent trip to Italy and Greece that my wife and I took for two weeks it felt different. Missing them was a good thing. Facetime calls were fun. We were all happy even though we weren’t together.
That’s how to miss someone.
And, hey, my wife and I finally took a shot to go away and enjoy ourselves (although being mighty careful, who wants to get Covid thousands of miles from home? Just ask my friends who did.)
Here’s the good news.
Missing someone? You can do something about it.
Make a call. Make a plan. Maybe now’s the time to go. Or soon (once we see how the fall and winter shakes out with Covid).
Be hopeful.
It sure beats the hell out of what we’ve all been feeling for too long.