little imprints

someone i know acquired the private cell phone number of this pretty important deputy leader. i won't say who or how, but let us all agree that it is a very big deal. she called me all a-fluster on friday to squeal about the find and to ask the ominous question, Now What? thus ensued a cumulative 20 minutes of prepping for the call, me sprinkling corny words of encouragement amidst instructions about hard-line communication tactics. she was primed. she was pumped. she made the call. she spoke to peter himself (someone who, i had to remind her, despite his frou-frou political title, is just a guy's guy who loves soccer and his mother, jerks off every morning, and cries sometimes too).

so anyways, she just called to tell me that her exhilerating phone call to peter's personal number has, in fact, yielded a meeting for her organization. a confirmation from his office in this short a time is, by ottawa standards, nothing short of amazing. she called, rushedly, all the way from halifax to gush the news because, as she put it: "it's all thanks to you!", claiming that i'm "brilliant" and that my coaching and encouragement were to thank for this. and as she gushed, i instinctively rolled my eyes, as many of us do when this woman is being her usual over-the-top self. but then i got to thinking, maybe i need to take more notice of this wee effect i apparently had on her.

i guess i've heard about them before, my little moments of influence, however inconspicuous sometimes. people have mentioned how my Being There or behind-the-scenes help has made significant impact. it's easy to brush them off as inconsequential or as merely the ramblings of a colleague/friend in need who really would have figured things out tout seul had i not been handy. my little imprints may not serve an obvious external path like - gasp, heaven forbid - a career. but maybe they matter in a much more important way. like maybe they're about character. integrity is, after all, doing the right thing even when no one is looking. and i have to believe that that'll take me farther than random calls to the cell phones of political stars.

not that i'm not happy for her. i'm just saying.