The Rediscovery of Connection

Imagine for a minute, you are a wrinkly old raisin of a human, contently sitting in your nursing home wheelchair. You can barely see your great grandchild sitting next to you thanks to your cataract eyes, but you have so much knowledge to pass on. What would you tell them about life?

Would you tell them about the shows you streamed on Netflix? Would you reminisce which filter on social media made your nose look contoured? Will you explain how you made your fortune thanks to sending a few faceless emails?

I think you know where I’m going with this. 

Maybe your answer is “travel as much as possible.” Maybe it’s “spend as much time with family as possible” or “meet as many interesting people as possible.” No matter what your dying mantra would be, I’m sure it centers around what connection you can make with the people and places you value.

We live in a society that has found a way for us to communicate with little effort and have a world of information in our pocket. But we aren’t creating a genuine connection with most of life. We see life on a screen. We text one sentence to correspond. We end up detaching small pieces of ourselves emotionally for convenience. But the convenience isn’t what makes our lives rich and unique. 

With the launch of Modern Classic Media, it’s my intention to rediscover the art of connection. 

CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE

You’ve probably heard the anecdote that a friend will text you in your time of need, but a good friend will show up with a bottle of wine and sit with you. But why wait for the time of need? We all learned a lesson during the pandemic days, but as the pendulum swings back to our schedules being full, let’s not forget how valuable time spent at the same table actually is. 

I’ve started working with executives who complain that the younger generations will email or text rather than pick up the phone. Think of how easy it is to ignore or forget a text or a faceless email. Even all the way back to the Blackberry, we’ve been able to shoot off a quick line of communication, but lost that connection. 

Whether it’s a close friend from childhood or a potential new client, sitting across a table over a cup of coffee has a deeper lasting impression. Even if the meeting is brief, you share a precious sliver of your time, a nuance of your emotion and a deeper connection. 

CONNECTING WITH FOOD

It’s funny, when I posted a photo of me in the kitchen recently, a few close friends reached out saying it gave 1950’s housewife vibes. They were concerned it wasn’t how a professional woman should be portrayed. I assured them, the launch of this site would put it into context. 

Food is one of our biggest connectors. Think about when you ask friends out for happy hour or a double date or maybe just have them over to your house. When we gather with friends, there’s always food and drink. It’s a way for us to either fall back on our comforting favorites or experience something new.  

If you’re like me, making a meal for friends and family is like sharing a piece of ourselves. The recipes are known by heart, but I can go to a binder with my grandma’s slanted cursive writing and find the food that her father or grandmother made for their families. The ingredients are based on what they could grow in their gardens, native to the countries they came from. 

When I was a little girl, I would stand at the kitchen counter with my grandma as she cooked dinner for us every Sunday. The smell of onions being sauteed in olive oil can still transport me back in time. As she cooked, she would use foreign words, unusual ingredients and tell me stories. 

This is what I want for my own children. I want them to know where they come from, the people that loved them before they could remember and a heritage that is getting watered down as time passes. That’s the power of food. 

CONNECTION TO OURSELVES

The woman I was 3 years ago is long gone. Her hobbies have changed. Her priorities are more streamlined and focused on slowing down. Her horizon has expanded with new people, places and tastes. Her style is more personalized. 

Yet, I still keep a white knuckle grip onto things from my past, mostly out of habit. 

I know I’m not alone in this midlife rediscovery of what I want to achieve with a career, how I want to raise my evolving family and create the home I’ve always wanted. That requires constantly maintaining a relationship with our ever-changing individuality. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a stranger inside the life I’m working so hard to create for all of us. 

FOLLOW THE CONNECTION

The beauty of this technology-centric society we live in, we are able to share more than we ever have before. Sometimes there’s (eeeek) lots of oversharing. But we’ll save that for another blog post. 

In the meantime, let’s connect here. Nothing makes me happier than sharing knowledge, personal discoveries and family recipes with you. 

And one day, when I’m a shriveled old woman, I’ll tell my great grandchildren how we rediscovered the joys of going deeper into what this life has to offer.