Tonight, I showed up on time to meet some friends at a local bar. I was not drinking, and so sat alone waiting for them, sipping on cola – for at least a good twenty minutes. There was group of people who came in around the same time as me, and must have noticed that I was alone. Eventually, the female from the group approached me asking if I’d like to play darts with her. I accepted. Eventually, her two friends joined us. We played on teams, and it was a fun game. Shortly after we began, the friends I had been waiting for showed up. I finished my game of darts, though, and it was quite pleasant.
I always enjoy short term acquaintances – people that you meet in public whose names you get to know for a short time while you engage in social niceties with them. When I put it like that, it sounds absolutely superficial, and perhaps it is. But I think it’s wonderful that people can do that. I sometimes have difficulty even going out for coffee with some friends because of the mood I’m in or for whatever other reason. And yet tonight, I was moodily sitting alone, impatient even, and ended up having a nice time with these strangers. I guess some of it has to do with the expectations I had of my friends – I expected them to be there when they said they would be. I was tired. Headache-y. But these strangers distracted me.
This has happened before. An old couple and their granddaughter at a local burger joint, asking if I’d sit and have lunch with them. The 75 year-old Korean man with his poetry on kitten note paper. That girl that I met in the bathroom on St. Patrick’s day when I was hiding from someone who decided we’d be best friends for the night. Or that person I hung out with while volunteering at that math conference not too long ago. The girl who shared her steak with me and told me to listen to Radiohead.
They’re so temporary. And I know that those connections are important, so this may all seem obvious, but I just think they’re so neat! They always happen when you least expect it, with people you probably wouldn’t even think of talking to for whatever reason. I like it.
