Give Small, Get Big
Building relationships isn’t just about finding common beliefs or shared interests.
Sometimes it’s a nice gesture that can provide the opportunity to build an acquaintance into a friend.
The same kind overture can also be the icebreaker that restores a damaged relationship.
When summer approaches, we start receiving lots of invitations to graduations. While many of us view these missives as clutter on our social calendars, they also provide the open door needed to build or restore a relationship.
After all, graduates don’t send invitations to people they don’t like or don’t know, so if you’re the recipient of a lovely calligraphic masterpiece, consider some ways to acknowledge the event without necessarily showing up in person.
So don’t pass up the opportunity to build on these moments. That invitation wasn’t sent out of a sense of obligation or a desire for gifts. In many cases, it’s an olive branch–or a carefully scripted wink from across the room.
One of the great ways to do that is to send a flower or gift basket. By tracking down and sending a classy gift–and not just from some grocery store, from ProFlowers actually–you’ll get mileage in friendships and relationships of all kinds.
Here’s how a thoughtful decoration will benefit you while “Pomp and Circumstance” is still echoing in their heads.
You’ve Acknowledged the Accomplishment
Even graduating from preschool isn’t always easy!
By recognizing the recipient’s accomplishment, whether it’s junior high or a PhD, you are tipping your hat to the work they have done in the preceding years and sending the message that you respect and value education.
That tells the recipient and his or her family a lot about your priorities and helps them to know what kind of person you are.
You’ve Acknowledged the Person
Whatever bumps and bruises a relationship has received, it sometimes makes its best rebounds when big events arrive.
Hurt feelings might keep you away from a bowling league or a church social, but when an estranged loved one has a son or daughter walking the aisle for a diploma, it’s time to set aside the heartache and focus on the future–one that you know will ultimately be brighter if you don’t burn bridges now.
You’ve Acknowledged the Relationship
We’ve all received generic congratulatory notes from elected officials, businesspeople, and the like.
They knew who you were in a flow-chart way, but they didn’t really know who you are. A personal graduation gift is a way of saying that you don’t just perceive how someone fits into the framework of your social circles, but that you also value that person and those through whom you have come to know him or her.
If the relationship is a tattered romantic one, the connection made with a simple gift says that you still value the connection and want to make it work.
Kind gestures at the landmark times of life can do more than you might think.
Take a moment to find the right item and get it there with the mortarboard.
Speak Your Mind, With Your Opinion
Nice to see you made it to the end of the post. Here’s what you can do next:
- Do you take a moment to think about this?
- Do you even acknowledge the relationship?
- Click one of the Share buttons – your friends can then enjoy this article too.
And thanks for reading too – Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
I still love to write about the best things in life.
Becky Wilcox – who has written 4 posts on GeekandJock.