Confession: I’ve been dealing with a marketing hangover. I know how I got here. We’ve been doing a fair amount of public speaking over the last few months and after every presentation about how to grow networks and maintain relationships, it occurs to me that I’ve become a big fat cliché. Really, I’ve been talking about lessons learned in kindergarten, for god’s sake.

Kindergarten? I mortify myself. My son’s in kindergarten. I’m sure he has no idea how to build a law practice.

But there I am, trying to persuade armies of young lawyers that professional services is a trust exchange. And that trust relies on good relationships. It can’t happen behind desks and documents, I tell them. Trust needs gestures and expressions and a handshake. It comes from having a little fun and being nice. Oh there I go…invoking the sandbox.

So I was feeling kind of uninspired. That’s when Alan Blassberg revisited my universe.

Alan from the 1970s and a wee suburban nest in Connecticut. Alan from elementary school, Hebrew school, and probably summer camp. I hadn’t spoken to Alan in decades, wouldn’t know him if I stole his parking spot.

But Alan reentered my world recently when he tapped the social media network to raise funds for a documentary, Pink & Blue, inspired by his sister’s battle against breast cancer. The response on Facebook was amazing. Dozens of old friends crawled out of the darkness to stand with Alan and support his work. It was like a game of telephone where we whispered from one to another, watching a message make its way across a universe, hopefully unchanged. And if it changed, with any luck, it would change with humor and good will. Seeing those messages lobbed to and fro was so much more than heartwarming; it felt like an embrace that held us all in place somewhere between 1975 and today, for a moment, still together. Like a kickball game where everyone got picked first. Where everyone had a place. Like a sandbox.

Contact is powerful. Reach back. Reconnect. You will be amazed at the achievements of your old friends and inspired by their agency. In 2014, let’s learn something from these curious Generation X-ers. Let’s get social and do something. Together.