Yesterday, Americans observed Memorial Day—a day where we honored the great men and women who died while serving in the United States’ military.
My family enjoyed our time together over the long three-day weekend. During a moment of downtime, I hopped on Facebook, where I saw lots of photos of other families enjoying their holiday weekend too.
Mixed in with the many family picnic photos, though, was a Timehop photo someone had posted from her college graduation. She was posing in her cap and gown with her former college teammate. The caption was something along the lines of, “I can’t believe this was ten years ago!”
(Somewhere, there is an octogenarian reading that with a smile and thinking, “Ten years is nothing. Just wait!”)
The comments below her post made me think of all the good memories that photo brought back to not just the person who posted it, but to all the other people who were also present during that part of her life’s journey.
Relationships with our teammates are interesting. We spend so much time with them, bonding through our shared challenges. In many cases, we spend far more time around our teammates than we do our own families. And then one day…poof! They’re gone from our life.
It’s not just teammates on sports teams, either. The same is true of colleagues we’ve worked closely with for years. Life happens, and we eventually go our separate ways.
But somehow good teammates never really leave us. There’s always a special place in our hearts for them.
The relationship between teammates is so significant that there ought to be a holiday designated for remembering them. In fact, I’m taking this opportunity to start a new tradition. We’ll call it “Teammate Tuesday.”
On the Tuesday after Memorial Day, I am going to make a point to reach out to former teammates and let them know I still care about them. I am sure we’ll use the occasion to reminisce, but more than anything, I hope it becomes a memorial of sorts for the special time we shared together in our lives.
Perhaps you will join me today in doing the same. Who knows, years from now we may all be octogenarians, smiling as we fondly recall the origins of a new holiday.
As always, remember: Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
