I’m a millennial, and my best friend at work is a baby boomer. Despite our age gap, we learned a lot from each other.

The author (not pictured) befriended her older coworker. 

I was working remotely well before the pandemic. As a freelance writer, piano teacher, and occasional photographer, I often spend most of my days at home. Since January 2021, I have dove deeper into a publication I had been freelancing for, and while I am still considered a freelancer, my hours more closely match those of a full-time position.

It was at this small publication that I met a new friend. We met unconventionally over Zoom and have only seen each other in person twice — a friendship for the modern age, perhaps?

My friend Chris and I couldn’t be more different. He’s a baby boomer in his 60s, has a wife and two grown children, and has been living in their Northern Virginia home they bought decades ago.

I, on the other hand, am a millennial at 39 with a husband and dog. I moved to Pittsburgh two years ago in search of cheaper real estate and bought my first home in July.

Chris loves to write long pieces, while I tend to write shorter ones. He doesn’t like popular books that were made into movies, while I love bestsellers.

Basically, if you knew Chris and me, you would probably think we wouldn’t get along. But we found common ground at the small business where we were coworkers despite our age gap.

We have the same personality and mentality

On Zoom calls, Chris would make dad jokes or puns, and I would be the one chuckling. We shared the same sense of humor early on in our friendship.

We are both very anxious, so I always appreciated his attempts to make things lighthearted during long and sometimes arduous Zoom meetings. We also loved to play around with AI and often laughed at how bizarre it could be.

Most of all, Chris and I connected on our love of writing. Through mutual respect for each other, we made our writing the best it could be. We both enjoyed seeking interesting interview subjects and took great pride in making our publication the best it could be.

Chris and I also bonded on the fact that we were both teachers. He once was a history teacher and journalism instructor at two private schools in D.C. and Maryland. As mentioned, I’m a piano teacher and have taught close to 75 children and adults over the last 10 years. While working for our publication, we made sure to make interns feel welcome, as we were the two with the most experience working with young people. We understood the pressure youth are under today with things like academic competition and social media.

Our age gap didn’t define us

Despite being a baby boomer, I often admired Chris’s diligence in ensuring he understood how to work with newer technology. He didn’t shrug or hand off work to younger, more experienced coworkers.

I was also grateful for the social media photos he would often take. He even understood SEO. I like to think Chris has learned some things from me about social media or pop culture, too.

I certainly have learned a lot from him, including expanding my vocabulary and some teaching tips for the virtual piano lessons I offer.

Chris and his wife Charlotte even attended my wedding. I will always be filled with gratitude for them both that they made the trip from Virginia to Pittsburgh — despite not ever meeting my husband Brad and me in person.

Now that Chris has retired and left our mutual workplace, we talk every other week. It’s fun to share the stories we’re working on and to catch each other up on our families.

Our age gap aside, our connection is perhaps a testament to modern friendships. We met online, have seen each other in person only twice, and couldn’t be any more different. But we managed to bond on our love of family, writing, and a solid dad joke.