You only call when you need something. At least… that’s what he thinks now.

You only call when you need something. At least… that’s what he thinks now.

Today he shows up with a ladder to fix the flickering light in my hallway. Brings the right bulb, tightens the fixture, wipes the dust off so it looks brand new. I almost just say ‘cool, thanks’ and go back to what I was doing. That’s the version of the future where we turn into polite strangers who used to be close. But I stand there for a second, looking at the light finally working, and remember he didn’t have to spend his Saturday doing this. I say, ‘Hey… thank you for fixing this, and for bringing the bulb. That really helped.’ He just laughs it off, but there’s this flicker — not from the light this time, but from him. I know I just kept us in the version of the story where we still show up for each other. I use an app called ‘quiet effort.’ It keeps me from letting the people I care about think they’re taken for granted.