Really loved this. Learning other people's stories is one of my life's great joys, too.
I think we often don't realize how important the consistent presence of others, however fleeting, is to the fabric of our routines. It's hard to reconcile how those "weak tie" characters can play such an outsized role in our experience, only to fade as quickly as they come.
GRETCHEN! You are my life saver. As I was writing this, I could not for the life of me recall the formal phrase for those not quite friend or acquaintance connections. I knew i'd read it in an article at some point and I searched and searched for it but kept drawing a blank. Weak ties! Thank you thank you.
I definitely found a new introverted side of myself during the pandemic. In a way, it's helped me gain a greater insight for how much emotional labor goes into starting a conversation when your tank is low. Like you, I'm working on building my extroverted powers back up. Thanks for writing this! It's refreshing to hear I'm not alone in that.
Totally agree about the new awareness of the emotional labor having/holding a conversation takes. I'd never realized it before, so there is some good in the newfound introverted-extrovert tendencies. I"m sure we'll both find some sort of solid middle ground. Thanks for reading!
Growing up in the country, it always felt really natural to know or at least recognize members of the community. So, after moving to Minneapolis, it made me immensely happy to finally get to know our mailman. We weren't on a first name basis, but he recognized me, always stopped to say hello when I passed him on a walk, knew my dog by name, and generally was a pleasant and kind person. Especially when COVID sent me WFH permanently, it was comforting to see the same former-stranger turn up every day to deliver the mail. After 2ish years of the same mailman, we've recently had a new deliverer. I hoped our mailman was just on vacation but it's been a few weeks, and I'm pretty sad about it.
All that to say, I loved reading about your connection with Max and understand the feeling well. I hope you run into each other somehow, someday!
Really loved this. Learning other people's stories is one of my life's great joys, too.
I think we often don't realize how important the consistent presence of others, however fleeting, is to the fabric of our routines. It's hard to reconcile how those "weak tie" characters can play such an outsized role in our experience, only to fade as quickly as they come.
GRETCHEN! You are my life saver. As I was writing this, I could not for the life of me recall the formal phrase for those not quite friend or acquaintance connections. I knew i'd read it in an article at some point and I searched and searched for it but kept drawing a blank. Weak ties! Thank you thank you.
I definitely found a new introverted side of myself during the pandemic. In a way, it's helped me gain a greater insight for how much emotional labor goes into starting a conversation when your tank is low. Like you, I'm working on building my extroverted powers back up. Thanks for writing this! It's refreshing to hear I'm not alone in that.
Totally agree about the new awareness of the emotional labor having/holding a conversation takes. I'd never realized it before, so there is some good in the newfound introverted-extrovert tendencies. I"m sure we'll both find some sort of solid middle ground. Thanks for reading!
Growing up in the country, it always felt really natural to know or at least recognize members of the community. So, after moving to Minneapolis, it made me immensely happy to finally get to know our mailman. We weren't on a first name basis, but he recognized me, always stopped to say hello when I passed him on a walk, knew my dog by name, and generally was a pleasant and kind person. Especially when COVID sent me WFH permanently, it was comforting to see the same former-stranger turn up every day to deliver the mail. After 2ish years of the same mailman, we've recently had a new deliverer. I hoped our mailman was just on vacation but it's been a few weeks, and I'm pretty sad about it.
All that to say, I loved reading about your connection with Max and understand the feeling well. I hope you run into each other somehow, someday!