The other day a friend mentioned the relief she felt from hearing that someone else was weary of the pandemic. I suppose we are wired as human beings to thirst for companionship. Rugged independence is great when you are parasailing, but wouldn't it be fabulous to see a friend bobbing around in the sky too? 

 

The largest chunk of my mental energy last week went to mentoring. Three dozen couples are considering or all in for being part of a quartet. They will find mutually agreeable times to connect in cyberspace for an hour each month with one other couple. The goal is to match younger and more experienced people along the lines of interests, and personality. I admit to moments of flailing in the air as I tried to link people that did not know each other in ways that they would enjoy. 

 

It's not a long term commitment. Six months is what we hold as a goal, though I am jubilant each time I find out that people hopped over the end date and continue to meet a year later. 

 

Mentoring is well established in a wide range of endeavors. Teachers do a practicum under the watchful eyes of a classroom teacher. When my daughter went to college she had a peer mentor to show her the ropes, and became one herself the next year. Hopefully every newly minted surgeon has logged hundreds of hours looking over the shoulder of a veteran doctor. Aspiring athletes have coaches. Boy Scouts have patrol leaders. 

 

Yet when I ask people to describe the couples that shepherded them over the course of their marriage, the answers are often more gaps than substance. A bunch can speak of their own parents or grandparents. But I am greedy. I want more. 

 

If you are curious about what it would be like to give rugged individualism a rest let me know. There is a sky full of possibilities.