I spent the early afternoon in R’s kitchen. R is one of the five people with whom I’m allowed to spend extended time these days. We talked a good bit, about his daughter and his business and the stuff you talk about these days.
Had a brief encounter with M tonight. Wasn’t expecting it. She had to go out of town on family business and I was bringing some food to her cat. But she was there and we had a chance to talk about things, however distantly.
I generally do not like people. People, speaking broadly, are damned boring.
That said, many, many people fascinate and delight me. They enlighten me and challenge me and crack me up. They double-take and eyebrow-raise and crooked-smile me, making me say anachronistic things like “scamp” and “Oooo, you old dog, you.” R told me something today a mutual friend had said and I wished I could have been there to say, “Oh, no you di’n’t!”
I can’t, of course. There is, for people who give two shits about other people, almost no space now to be friends, casual, intimate or even theoretical. And that’s… odd. Even for people who generally do not like people.
Before all this, people were a buffet, a salad bar, however protected by our own, self-defined one-plate rules and sneeze guards.
Now, for the safety of all, people, our friends, acquaintances, and those not yet sorted between those piles, are not nearly as elective. They must be pre-ordered and pre-sorted and pre-packed.
People are to-go, left at the doorstep with a doorbell’s herald. Some few are brought inside our castles and spooned onto familiar, comforting dishes.
I generally do not like people. Which is why I find myself surprised to miss them as much as I do.
Whatever your circumstances these very strange days, don’t hesitate to give voice to your gratitude for the people nearby, or virtually so. They may be as surprised as you.