Connections

Connections in daily life come in all sorts of forms: friends, family, significant others, children, coworkers, neighbors, and casual personal and professional relationships. Each of these types of connections require a different adaption by you, and it takes work to successfully cultivate the ones that mean the most to you.

Prioritizing your time also means trade-offs. You might decline a wine club night to spend time with your best friend who is going through a divorce. Or you might choose to attend a networking event at the chamber of commerce to grow your fledgling business instead of your standing date night with your husband (sorry, honey!).

Plato writes extensively about connections. The term “Platonic love/relationship” comes from his writing in the Symposium (c. 385–370 BC). In the Symposium, Plato uses the metaphor “ladder of love” to describe varying levels of closeness from carnal attraction to attraction to souls, and eventually, union with the truth. Each step on the ladder brings a person closer to the truth, which distances love from beauty of the body toward love that is the essence of beauty, an everlasting love that neither fades nor grows.

I believe each connection starts with a small spark via a conversation. These tiny bits grow and compete for priority with other tiny daily sparks. Plato says that “eventually, (you will have) union with the truth.” Your truth—whatever that connection means to you and how much you are able (and care) to nurture it. When you find a person that sparks your truth, you find yourself nurturing the flame of this truth.
Recently, I received a call from Dana Davenport, Profile feature in January, to tell me that she had randomly met Terrell Cole, Glimpse of Gourmet resident-chef, out at Sullivan’s Steakhouse. They initially talked about the magazine, and then started brainstorming on ideas about how to bring different content to the community at large. Not only did they spark a connection via the conversation, but they brought in pieces of their own circles to add layers of dimension to their conversation. “Oh hey, you know so-and-so?” “So do I!” “Yes, he would be a great supporter of this idea.” The phone call from Dana was excited and filled with ideas that M&L is likely to share with you further in the future.

Starting a magazine has created connections beyond my wildest expectations. Through our discussions with writers, photographers, features, and advertisers, I personally have learned more about the ethos of this town and its wonderful contributors more than if I had stayed in corporate America. Almost daily, M&L receives messages with comments or personal anecdotes about what we have published. Each of our stories are indeed meant to serve as sparks for you to find your own truth and fan a flame. Certainly, this issue’s central theme is exactly that.

Although our cover and some articles are definitely a nod to Valentine’s Day, we wanted to focus on various types of connections and how to cultivate them. In this issue, we explore micro weddings for those who want intimacy and a focus on close family and friends, luxe weddings for those who want grandness and to bring together a large group, creating connections with new people in new situations, enriching professional connections via the Career & Networking Center, finding connections via a book club at the Naperville Public Library, and the story of the Naperville resident who is facilitating connections both fleeting and enduring on a daily basis. We also sprinkled in some dazzling jewelry for February’s well-known holiday celebrating our love connections.

We hope this issue inspires you to further connect. How do fan your connection sparks?

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CEO@MainLuxe.com