As I sat down to write this, Amazon released the list of its top 10 best selling books for 2011. Two of the titles were Kindle-only releases (The Mill River Recluse and The Abby), underscoring what we know to be true – the e book phenomenon is here to stay. But I was intrigued by what took the top three spots: Steve Jobs, a biography, along with Bossypants by Tina Fey and A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard.
It reminded me of a simple truth. Life is about people. As we rush around making holidays happen or work hard to get words onto the page, it sometimes gets lost. In this age of tweets and status updates, of email and text messages, it’s easy to stay a step or three removed from people. I’m certainly guilty of it. I’m writing this message to people I don’t know and whom I may never meet. The irony doesn’t escape me.
I was blessed this year to connect with a friend I hadn’t seen in over twenty years. We’d been in touch electronically but when we exchanged hugs, when we sat down to eat and drink together, our friendship was renewed in a way that simply doesn’t happen when you’re dealing with those three degrees of separation.
And so my wish for you this holiday season is the opportunity to connect with friends and family. To hug and be hugged. To feel loved and appreciated. And if you’re separated by distance as I am from some of my family, perhaps once phone calls or emails are exchanged, you can put on a pot of coffee, open a bottle of wine or maybe even make a simple meal and then invite someone over to share it with you. Connecting truly is one of the best gifts of all.
