Tonight brought another opportunity to mingle.

I know it sounds like such a trite and superficial thing-mixing and mingling, but tonight, that’s what I did. I had my first chance to socialize with colleagues from across the entire university in a setting that allowed us to talk about our children, our families, and our pasts. I got to share aspects of my daily life with people who have, up until this point, only known a single facet of who I am (and the same is true of what I knew about most of them). What’s more: over the past few months, I have been on opposite ends of the table, literally and figuratively, with some of these individuals, but tonight, we had an opportunity to move beyond our work roles and talk as one human being to another, not as “administrative units.”

I really enjoyed having this little window into the daily lives of my colleagues. No, I don’t think I made any tight and fast friendships tonight, but that wasn’t really the point. And perhaps it was only “small talk,” but it’s good to appreciate the little things too!