Last week I sat down to write all my Christmas cards, and I pulled out my address book. I’ve actually been using this same little address book since I was a teenager. This year I noticed, though, that there were pages and pages of crossed out names and addresses, and only a few current addresses left in the book. It was time to consolidate addresses into a new contact list (this time digital).
A simple matter of record keeping, on the one hand. But on the other hand it was an emotional and spiritual exercise, as I remembered all the people I’d lost track of over the years. People move, lives change, things end, and we lose track of each other. With facebook and other social media, there’s more of a chance to keep track of scattered friends and family, but even so we still can’t keep in touch with everyone who has ever touched our lives.
And then there are the people that I’ve known and loved who have died. Remembering them, and not copying them over into my new list was another little moment of grieving them. I’ve lost people, people I cared about. We all have, it’s part of the process of caring about people.
But I still had plenty of cards to write this year, because while I have lost people, new people have also come into my life. We humans are creatures of connection.
In this season, I wish moments of connection for all of you as well. Remember, we are all connected. Blessings,
Sara