Hey 👋🏽,

When I open Journal, one of the first notes I see is “Neighbors.” I use it to jot down notes after walks with Duke Ellington.

Brian lives down the street and is really good at remembering names. Christelle is always flawless in color coordinated outfits with her dog Apollo. Sandra has been here since 1987 but John takes the cake, he lives in the house his family built on the land in 1853.

I started the note when we moved in. My partner is typically the mayor of wherever he goes but doesn’t get much daylight at home working 6 days a week so I play the part of Assistant to the Mayor, filling in on his Dale Carnegie as a verb responsibilities.

I used to have pretty bad social anxiety but I think it’s gotten easier in the last year as we’ve collectively survived the great equalizer. Hi, yes, I have also been mostly sitting alone in doors for the last 15 months.

I was thinking about creating connection fearlessly last night while looking at photos from Oliver’s 6th birthday. We kept it to 4 masked up kids. Oliver’s inner circle has shrunk while we’ve homeschooled him through the pandemic, and we were pleasantly surprised that our next door neighbor from our old neighborhood was able to join in on the fun.

I wish I could take credit for that friendship but I have my mom to thank. While I was out of town for a wedding in 2019, my mom made friends with another mom at the park.

To this day, my mom is unparalleled at holding space for others. I hear her encouraging Oliver to “tell your story” when they FaceTime almost everyday and I try to carry that with me into my interactions with our team and customers at Animalz and my time hosting Flow Club sessions. The best 1:1 conversations are often those where I’m talking 20% or less of the time.

Anyways, my mom shared mom-friends number and I promptly forgot about it until I bumped into mom-friend months later. They lived just next door and the kids hit it off immediately. I was just too busy to notice, and unsure about how to make new friends as an adult.

That to me is ultimate motherly/grandmotherly power, Jedi mind control. She lives halfway across the globe and she still manages to help me make friends and remind me to slow down, leading by example. I think of her when I jot down names after dog walks, remembering that the world is a big and often friendly place when we take the time to look up and out, staying curious about the people around us. A mom friend of mine would probably say this is just what moms do: looking out for their little and big ones by rounding out their flat sides.

Sending love today and always to all the moms out their helping their kids round out their flat sides with love, vision and intention, and to everyone who slows down for long enough to hold space for the people around them to make the world a little kinder and a little brighter.

I see you, I love you, have a great week,