The Social Chou

When I first moved to Boston, I remember waking up on a perfect sunny Saturday with a lot of exploring ahead of me. I've been in the city for a surprising amount of time now, I know my way around like I've lived here for (almost) forever, and I've met some wonderful people. But that first weekend, contrary to everything that I was used to, I was all on my own for this round of exploring. Growing up where a close friend or family was never far away, this was a bit of a new experience for me.

So I made a plan. I decided there was a city of people around me, and probably a lot of opportunities to meet these people, so I was going to go out and introduce myself.

That afternoon, I wandered through the art market, and learned a bit more about all of the design centers in Boston. I tried a new coffee shop, and gained a new found love for sitting on a park bench and just looking around.

I was sure to bring my notecards with me, and used my nice shady spot to write a few letters to people I wished was sitting on the bench with me. I am a big fan of snail mail, but that is a whole other post. (Stay tuned!)

I looked up from my writing to find an elderly man with a walker. He seemed to notice I was sitting on the bench, and decided to sit on the little chair on his walker instead. That bench definitely had room for two, and I motioned for him to come over.

I can't quite remember who spoke to who first, but I quickly learned that he was from China, and spoke little to no English. It was very interesting how at first it felt so stuck. We both seemed like we could use an afternoon pal, and I wasn't sure how to connect with him through language.

After a few smiles that spoke many more words than we knew how to, we tried to talk about some things that might be recognizable, like family. He told me he had children, and it seemed he was here in Boston with them. I motioned to what a beautiful day it was, and he agreed. His eyes lit up when I taught him the word 'park'. We shared a few conversations, a few smiles that filled in the words we didn't know for each other, and some silent moments enjoying having someone else on the park bench with us.

He got a phone call awhile later, and after hanging up, he turned to me with big eyes and told me it was time for him to go home now. I told him it was very nice to meet him. He took my hand in both of his, and kissed me on the cheek. The smile he had while he slowly walked back to him family was enough to fill you up for the week.

I saw him a few weeks later outside of the post office. He didn't recognize me, and didn't remember the park, but it warmed my heart to see my park bench friend again. When I felt a bit alone that weekend, a stranger on a park bench quickly became a friend, with very little words at all, and that seems like something to remember.

I love a good cookie. When the highlight of your afternoon is popping across the street for a fresh baked mix of chocolate, flour and sugar, you better believe National Cookie Day is treated like a recognized holiday. So this year, I grabbed my work pal and idea partner Shirley, and we went on a cookie hunt.

This afternoon was a bit different than our usual afternoon snack. We devised a plan our business could use to celebrate National Cookie Day too. We strolled down to our local grocery, found the perfect cookie with splashes of M&M's coloring, and had them write our company's initials in big blue frosting. The plan was to take a photo of our cookie and link it to a blog our company has on baking and data quality (pretty cool huh?). Looking back, not only was this one of our most successful social posts, but it's always good when your most successful things are the most fun. I'm not sure if it was the M&M cookie (those always seem to make people happy), or our little escapade of taking artsy cookie pictures in the middle of Boston, but I still smile thinking of how much fun we had on our outting.

And then we took the photo you couldn't help but laugh at. It was like the little cookie takes the big city, with a small arm. I still can't stop looking at it.



After pulling ourselves together, we wrapped up the shoot with the cookie below the Macy's tree. We tend to think the lights really bring out the cookie's features, don't you?

Shirley and I walked back to the office, me eating the cookie along the way. The image of the little cookie with the big city kept coming back to me, and I thought aloud how fun it would be to create an  instagram account of holding different objects up among a big background.

As all ideas seem to do, this idea came back to me at 5am on a Saturday. But, I am glad for it now, as I probably wouldn't finally be writing this blog if I hadn't been awake then. I realized that little cookie picture had more to say than just it's blue frosting letters.

I had wanted to write a blog for a long time. I had wanted it to be something I cared about, and something that might make the people who (hopefully) read it think. I had a rough idea, but nothing quite seemed like the light bulb moment yet, enough to sit down and start typing.

But then I thought about that cookie. It might not have seemed like a big deal, but whether it is one of our quick trips for an afternoon pick me up, or a full blown photoshoot in the middle of a busy street while holding a cookie up, I've gotten to know Shirley really well. I tend to think her standing outside last week during a blizzard to take a photo of a Nutella latte for World Nutella Day is a sign that our friendship has grown a bit. It seems to me things like grabbing a cookie can be sweeter than we think, we just might not take note of it too often.

To me, it seems that the opportunity to connect and communicate with the people around us is available, in so many ways. I have a love for connections and communication, and I think both are things we can constantly learn about. So this blog will be dedicated to all of the ways that we can do both of those things, whether through hosting the neighbors for dinner, talking to the person next to you in the coffee shop, or maybe seeing the importance of celebrating National Cookie Day with your new friend. Thank you for reading along, and I look forward to connecting!