As I sit here on the heels of having just blipped about today being Dolly Parton day, a thought occurred to me.

I got up this morning and watched my 8yo daughter come downstairs in a "Jolene" t-shirt with a big pink cowboy hat and cowboy boots on. Then I arrived at the coffee shop that I stop into to get some work done every morning, and the only music they've played all morning has been Dolly Parton music. My brain put these things together and made me wonder ... did I miss something?

So text my wife and asked her ... is there some Dolly Parton thing happening today? What did I miss? And she informed me that, yes, today (9/25) was declared Dolly Parton day. Huh. I had no idea.

In the middle of all of this, it occurred to me, ya know, I could've just asked Claude that question. Yeah, I could have. But then I thought ... no ... it was better to have asked, and gotten that answer, from my wife. It was small, just a little thing. But in that little way, in that brief text message exchange, she and I connected this morning. That's a connection we wouldn't have had if I had made the choice to "just ask Claude" instead.

The lesson that's forming in my head as a result of this: AI is a valuable tool for us in today's world ... but we should definitely not allow it to replace connection with the humans around us. So if you're like me, and find yourself turning to Claude, or ChatGPT or Grok for answers to just about any question you have anymore ... think about maybe finding a human to ask first/instead. As AI becomes more and more prevalent in our world, we need to start being more intentional about remaining connected with the humans around us too.