Heard from a Friend today

As I was finishing my lunch today, my cell phone rang. Since I was busy finishing some fried chicken, I had to let the call go to voicemail. As soon as I finished my lunch I washed my hands and checked on voicemail. The call was from a friend that has been going through a rough time and he wanted to talk.

I checked my calendar and saw that I had approximately 1 hour until my next meeting and I didn’t hesitate to call him back immediately. There was nothing major that needed to be done in preparation for the meeting, and friends are the most important things in my life. I was glad that I did.

He is doing better today than he has been in the last few weeks and he actually wanted to call and let me know this. I was thrilled to hear that he is handling things better and making some progress against some rather formidable challenges. Calling him to let him know that I still have his back was definitely the right thing to do.

I know some people that would have “gotten around to calling him back”, especially since his message was upbeat. I cannot act like that to a friend. I wanted to let him know that not only did I receive his message, but that I wanted him to know that I shared his joy at making progress. He seemed rather surprised when I called him back, but he quickly began to tell me what had gone on and what was going on. I think that celebrating with someone is just as important as commiserating with them when things aren’t going well.

We talked for nearly 30 minutes before he mentioned that he had to go. He thanked me again for calling him back so quickly. I told him that it was great to hear his voice and that talking to him had made my day. It is the smallest things that we do for each other that usually makes the biggest difference. I wish that I could do more of this. I wish that we as a society did more of this. If we did, the world would be a much better place.