TALKING TO STRANGERS

I used to hate it when the person sitting next to me in a public place started talking to me. In a restaurant, on the subway, sitting on a park bench - wherever it was, I would show a tight little smile and then turn away. How dare that person invade my space; anyone who would do that should be taken out and shot.
     Well, I'm now the person who starts talking. It could be anywhere - if there's a person standing next to me, chances are I'll begin a conversation. It isn't always welcomed. Sometimes I see someone turn away just as I did, strangely enough usually young women. With them, with everyone, I don't usually go on. A sentence or two will satisfy what I suppose is my need to connect.
     I like these small connections. A man and I heading for a door at the same time. You, he says. No, you, I say, and we go back and forth a couple of times. By the time one of us gives in, we're both smiling and carrying it forward. In a restaurant, asking the person at the next table what she ordered. It looks delicious, I say, and often that person will tell me exactly what's in the dish, or add some personal detail. Other incidents may be more intense, a quick exchange of energy. They've become something I seek out; they're part of the texture of my day.
     Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I had a dog and a couple of times a day we went for walks around a pond not far from my house. My wonderful dog, Buster, died and I had no reason to take all those walks. But weeks later, I went down to the pond. I passed a woman I'd never noticed before and she stopped me. She wanted to know how my dog was. When I told her he had died, she said she thought maybe that was the reason she hadn't seen the two us in such a long time. She said how sorry she was and I continued on. I found myself so moved, that I never realized that Buster and I were part of the texture of other lives. It turned out I was part of a community, a walker of a little white dog who other people saw twice a day.  
     We're connected even if we don't know we are and there is energy in that connection. I think that's what my talking to strangers is all about. Connection gives me energy, stimulates my spirit and mind. Those simple small connection make me part of the human community, individual and at the same time one of many. They make me feel at home.