Waving at Strangers

The title of this piece is Waving at Strangers.

For a few years now I've been in the habit of going on a nightly walk. I'm generally an anxious person. My walks give me a chance to direct my attention towards something other than my racing thoughts and try to settle myself down a little before I go to bed.

These walks became especially important during the pandemic. I need a lot of space and quiet to maintain my sanity. Being stuck at home with two small children, my wife, and all the humming mental noise that goes along with a global event like Covid had me feeling claustrophobic. My walks became a way to stretch my world out a little and get a some breathing room.

Encountering other people on these nightly walks led to new questions about pandemic etiquette. Should I be wearing a mask? Is it okay to cross paths? How much distance do we need from each other? Things were so uncertain.

Generally crossing the street, or stepping off the sidewalk out into the street, to pass someone became a normal part of my evening stroll. I remember how alienating this felt. These were the days when the only new faces I was seeing were on screens. Facetime and Zoom were lifelines but they also felt so artificial. Here on my walks it was coming up again. A reminder that we are all isolated, even from the strangers we pass on the street.

That's not the part that sticks out to me though. It's what happened as we passed each other. A wave. A few words shouted across the street. Every single person I passed had a little something to say, a smile to trade, a brief moment of connection. An unspoken acknowledgement of the shared feeling of being isolated and afraid, but also a chance to smile at someone else. A chance to recognize that we are alone but in this together.

That feeling is what this image is of. A leaf waving confidently at the top, little cracks running through the world below. Or maybe it is a light, a flame, standing up alone in the emptiness. Or maybe it's me. Alone, and worried, and trying to calm myself down walking around my neighborhood at night, waving at strangers.