When I logged into WordPress tonight, I wasn’t sure what to write about for this week’s Simplicity post. Then I had my phone ding with an email (I know, I know – email on a phone is probably the antithesis of simplicity . . .). That email was simply from Bloglovin’. (In case you don’t know, they’re a website that allows you to get all of the updates from blogs you subscribe to in one email at the end of the day rather than getting emails from each individual blog as they post. It’s a very convenient service.) After I went through those, I was looking at the other emails in my inbox, and that’s kind of what I want to talk about today. Not the specifics of the email, of course, but the reason that email was there in the first place: it’s someone with whom I have a relationship.
Relationships are a very important part of life. As humans, we’re wired to crave interaction with one another. We listen to each others’ voices. When one person in the relationship is gone, either by travel or death, the other person will do everything they can to keep the voice around. (For a fantastic post on that concept, check out this blog post.)
We feel each other. When you have a new baby, the doctors and nurses spend a lot of time reminding you that your new little one needs “skin on skin contact.” Even when they don’t know anything else, babies know that they need to develop a relationship with other people. As we get older, that draw doesn’t go away. It lessens, of course, as we enter adolescence and early adulthood. Then as adults, we rekindle it when we marry.
We communicate. This goes along with the bit above about voices, but it’s definitely not the only way we communicate. We live in a magical age where we can “meet” and communicate and develop relationships with people all over the world – people we’ve never met. The person I consider to be my best friend lives in England, and we’ve never met in person. We found each other through an online forum due to a shared interest. (It was an email from her that inspired today’s post.) We would both love to meet, but because of the financial burden of overseas travel, that may not ever happen. But that’s okay (kind of). In some ways, the lack of face to face interaction makes our relationship stronger. Remember on my birthday when I said that I hate talking? Yeah. I don’t mind having my picture up anymore (and believe me, that’s been a huge step), but I’d still rather “hide” behind a keyboard than speak up. It’s just easier for me. Because of that, I offer my previous statement about the lack of face to face interaction. That definitely wouldn’t be the case for everyone.
What comes to your mind when you think of relationships?
Blessings,
Wendy