I love everything related to entertaining, parties, and among them, hospitality.  When it comes to hospitality, however, for so many of us it stops at our own doorstep.  I got to thinking this weekend, while walking to a nearby couple’s home for a football game, about how our grandparents’ generation used to go on ‘visits’ or in-person social calls to catch up for a few minutes with friends.  With the introduction of unlimited telephone plans and the internet, this act has all but stopped, but why not bring it back?

It’s not hard to pop in on someone, bring them a bit of coffee, and have a quick chat… so why don’t we do it more? The fear that we’re being rude and interrupting them? The worry that they wouldn’t feel ready?

We are fortunate enough to live in a central area of our town where friends frequently drive by and honk or, if we’re lucky, they stop.  I just love when people drop by.  It feels so traditional and enriching to know that we can have an impromptu interaction without a phone or computer.  I’m going to challenge myself to do this more, and this is how I’ll go about it:

• make a preemptive phone call – “I’m in your neighborhood and I was thinking about you!  Can I stop and bring you a coffee?”
• make it quick – stay 10 – 15 minutes tops
• make it regular – when I say regular I mean more that once a year.  Dropping by someone’s house just once is creepy, dropping by seasonally is sweet.

Did anyone you know ever go for ‘visits’? Will you give it a try?

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