Do You Really Know the People You Know?

Recently a man that we knew for many years passed away. We knew him as a highly intelligent, kind, warm, compassionate and good-humored soul. His wife of several decades was a teacher, and he, a professor at a university. What we didn’t know until his eulogy was read, was that he worked in AI-Artificial Intelligence. Wow!

Such has been the case with many dear people whom we’ve lost in this last year. During the Zoom funeral services we learned of people being decorated military soldiers, women having had illustrious careers prior to becoming mothers that few were aware of, and others who traveled the world when we didn’t know they’d left the block.

All of this has made me aware of what I don’t know…what I maybe haven’t taken the time to ask or perhaps missed as cues to opportunities for deeper conversation. Because I’m a therapist in my day job, I’m mindful not to delve deeper when I’m in light conversation, but maybe I’ve taken that too far and have missed the richness in stories of their experiences that were left untold.

Someone told me that Julia Child was in the CIA! I thought I “knew” her as a very tall woman who loved to use a lot of butter in her French cooking, but she worked for the CIA??? I had no clue.

According to Stories from the Central Intelligence Agency, “Julia experienced her first culinary moments at Smith (College) as chair of the Refreshment Committee for Senior Prom and Fall Dance. After graduating from Smith in 1934, Julia wrote advertising copy for W. & J. Sloane, a furniture store in New York City.

Soon after the United States entered World War II, Julia felt the need to serve her country. Too tall to join the military (she was 6’2″), Julia volunteered her services to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the forerunner of today’s Central Intelligence Agency. She was one of 4,500 women who served in the OSS.”

So what don’t you know about the people you know? What might you change in order to have deeper and more meaningful relationships?

Nourish your mind, body, and soul and stay enchanted!