I just observed a tender, inspiring, and profoundly human interaction. John, the UPS employee who delivers packages to The Davis Academy a few times a week, was asking for our receptionist Ms. Janice. As it turns out, he wanted to say a last goodbye because today was his final delivery to The Davis Academy. After so many years, he’s retiring.
It was a touching moment, because Ms. Janice was in tears. As it turns out, those few moments each week when John would stop by to deliver packages were the foundation of a friendship. A friendship that spanned the years. Rain or snow etc…
There are people in our lives, sometimes at the center of our lives, sometimes on the margins. Some of them seem like constant fixtures, always there. Others come and go, sometimes with no lasting impression.
The vast majority are somewhere in the middle. People that we encounter in the mundane moments, around the edges, as we journey through our lives. John and Janice had that. A welcome distraction, an occasional interruption, some friendly words, a heartfelt smile. Can we really ever articulate what these people and these kinds of relationships mean in the context of our entire lives?