It was a quiet holiday week and I’m back now. One part wasn’t quiet, though! It’s a personal story but relates to why we need to be connected.
Social media saved my daughter’s summer. This is a perfect example of how social media is not just for business.
Ruby’s on a group bike trip from Seattle to San Francisco, camping every night. Last Monday, we got a letter from her, (you know, the thing a mail carrier brings? Written on paper? Yes, there are no cell phones allowed on this trip) everything is fantastic; we are thrilled!
Tuesday brings the call from the ER. Nothing super serious but the doc does say the pain in her knee is from overuse and she needs a few days rest. This is an impossibility. The main office at the biking tour company tells me they can’t just stop the group for a few days, and when I ask if I could arrange something they responded with doubt that I could do anything. Other parents have been in the same situation, they told Jerry and me. No one has ever been able to remedy this particular problem. I mean, what could we do? She was literally on the other side of the country.
Jer smiled as we hung up and said, “They should not have said that to you!”
I needed to find someone willing to drive to where the group was camping, and drive my kid to each new stop for three days so her knee could recouperate and she could finish this trip we’d worked so hard to get her on. Not only that, we’d have to arrange for the driver to meet again each morning – could she camp with them? What were the odds someone would want to?
I immediately emailed every listserv I’m on. Within an hour I’d heard from a dozen people offering to help. Within two hours I had heard from a librarian (praise her!) who had a friend (her too!) who had a daughter (praising most of all!) just finishing up college and was home and unemployed. Within three hours I had spoken to this lovely young woman. Not only was she fab, but she loved to camp, had her own equipment, and thought the salary I offered was right on the money, as it were.
Today Ruby rode her first day back, and we got a message from the home office that her knee was good! Without social media her summer would’ve been ruined.
What’re you waiting for? Pick a social media forum today and sign up!