There’s something so intimate about someone remembering the smallest details, or something you said one time casually in conversation.
I don’t know if it’s more about someone else putting in the effort to truly understand and connect with me, or just simply knowing I’m heard.
The first time I realized how much I appreciated these sentiments was in my sophomore year of high school. My friend Zoe had an extra AriZona Iced Tea she brought with her but didn’t want anymore.
I was sitting next to her, and she grabbed it from her bag, but as soon as she went to offer it to me, she paused for a moment then said, “But you don’t like tea, right?” and I was taken aback at first because I had only brought that up once or twice before in random drink debates we would have.
I could only respond with, “Yes! Oh my gosh, how did you remember that?” She giggled and shrugged her shoulders in response.
I’m sure I’m forgetting other instances that have happened in the past couple of years, but the time that convinced me to write about this happened just a couple of weeks ago.
I’ll provide more background information for this one, as it’s a little more complicated. There’s a boy who lives about 20 minutes away from where I live, who also happens to attend St. Bonaventure University. I would go to his hometown multiple times a week, and I even got my senior photos done there at a place called Scoby Dam.
When I found out he was from there, we talked and talked about all of the things to do and see there, and when Scoby Dam came up, I told him I had my senior pictures taken there. Just a little fun fact to share, I didn’t think twice about it.
Fast forward about a month, and we were driving around his town, and we drove past the entrance to Scoby Dam. He pointed to the entrance and said, “Senior pictures gal,” and all I could do was look over at him in absolute shock.
He quickly glanced at me and went, “Right?” and I just exclaimed, “Yes! You remembered that?!” I would never have expected someone to remember a tiny, fun fact I told them a month ago, let alone a teenage boy.
His response to my shock is probably my favorite part of this whole interaction. He said, “Yeah, anything you say, I remember it,” which actually might be one of the most meaningful things someone has said to me.
Remembering small things about people, in my opinion, is how you build and/or maintain a good connection with them, and letting them know you remember those things only makes the connection stronger.
Whether it’s remembering their coffee order and surprising them out of the blue, or playing a song they said they loved and seeing their surprised face when it starts.
To be loved is to be seen.