The first cell phone we ever owned was an Ericsson T10. We bought just one and shared it. Back then these phones had a small monochrome display that could only show a few lines of text. They had the ability to display a custom message on the screen, presumably to allow you to differentiate one from another. I remember trying to decide what to put there when Laura suggested Be Excellent to Each Other. In case, you’re either too old or too young, Be Excellent to Each Other is the first part of the foundational Mantra of the great philosophers Bill Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan, more commonly known as Bill & Ted of the 80s classic Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Laura lived by that mantra. Whether you’d just met her or knew her for years, you were treated with kindness, warmth, and good humor. Whether she’d asked you to join her on an adventure or stay for dinner, she exuded optimism, hope, and positivity. She believed that you get back what you put out to the world, so being excellent to her fellow humans and engaging with the world was the way to foster connectedness and community, and create a positive environment for herself and everyone in her life.
Eventually we got separate phones, but with each new phone, she would customize the message this way. Sometimes they had character limits forcing her to come up with alternate spellings, like vanity plates for cellphones, but she always found a way to work it in there. It served as a daily reminder (we used to turn phones off at night and on again in the morning) to be kind, and not just be a good person, but be good to other people. She kept this up until the advent of smart phones when the feature died out, but she still managed to infuse it wherever she could. When she ordered her road ID for long distance running, there was an extra line available, and there it was. The purpose of the Road ID is to communicate the most crucial information if the bearer is unable to communicate. Who she is, who you should call, and anything else she deemed important enough to etch into metal for all eternity. In this format, it wasn’t so much a reminder for herself, but rather a wish for those reading it: Be Excellent to Each Other.