Connector Field Notes #19

What are you proud to show visitors?

We've had visitors in town recently, and the thing I was proudest to show them about my walking-centric life here is that I run into friends everywhere I go. On an ordinary Saturday out and about- and particularly on the first truly warm and sunny day of the year in New England- there is a friend on every corner.

So our visitors were introduced to our friends on sidewalks in between errands. We spent even more time outside than usual, because we were also playing tour guide. It was like a big reunion as everyone emerged from the winter. It was the weather that reminds me why I live here. (Never mind that it quickly returned to basically winter two days later.)

When you know you’ll see each other soon

I have a friend who I met at a community event 8 years ago. She's a retired architect and an artist, and she has studio space near where I live. We've stayed in touch all these years mostly through running into each other unexpectedly.

We have each other's phone numbers and do sometimes exchange texts, but our primary method of communication is spontaneous, relatively infrequent, in-person conversations. Our walking paths reliably overlap in various neighborhoods at least once or twice a year, and we stop to chat and we catch up. We actually joke about how we don’t need to make plans because we know we will see each other.

These catch-ups are on a timeframe and scale of months- not days or weeks, but not years either. It's a somewhat uncommon amount of time to summarize, so it's a unique lens for reflection. I think that's a big part of what I enjoy about it, similar to the seasonal timeline for my Beautiful Work Lives catch-ups.