.:: By John B Grimes
"A strong connection can bridge any gap—don’t wait to build yours."
No one gets through life alone. At some point, we all rely on the kindness, support, or wisdom of others. For me, that realization came during one of the hardest chapters of my life, when meningitis left me in a coma.
My best friend Chris dropped everything and traveled over 300 miles to see me, even though I was showing no signs of life. At the hospital, he suited up in protective gear and stepped into my quarantined ICU room. My parents, who had been under immense stress, introduced him: “Hey JB, Chris is here to see you.”
Chris confidently grabbed my hand, squeezed it, and said, “Hang in there, buddy. You’re going to make it.” I was on a ventilator and had tubes coming and going all over my body—a sight no friend wants to see. Until that moment, my prognosis was grim—minimal brain activity, a body barely clinging to life, and doctors preparing my family for the worst. But when Chris walked into that room, something changed. My vital signs—heart rate and brain activity—spiked while he was there. For the first time, my parents saw a flicker of possibility, a reason to believe I could defy the odds. The machines may have measured the spike, but they couldn’t measure what truly mattered: hope. Chris’s presence gave us all something science couldn’t explain.
That’s the power of connection—it can reach us in ways nothing else can, even when we’re at our lowest.
In-person connection has a way of grounding us, something we may have lost sight of in recent years. Don’t wait for a crisis to reach out to the people who matter. Strengthen your relationships now. Call that friend, message that mentor, or better yet, meet up face-to-face and remind each other why connection matters.
What’s one connection that has made a difference in your life?
