spring & talking to strangers

[boxofdelights]

It is very difficult to determine when this flowering crabapple reaches peak beauty. So you have to look, thoroughly, every day in the spring. This is what it looks like today.

While I was weeding the front yard a man walked by with his dog. I looked up and nodded, so he stopped and made a comment about the beautiful weather. I answered, so he introduced himself (Tom) and said they'd just moved into the house next to the alley. So I got up and offered my hand and introduced myself, and asked his dog's name (Abby) and whether he had any children (no). We talked about the weather (changeable) and the neighborhood (so nice) and property values (rising). I thought he paid too much for his house, but I didn't say that. I said that the location, near Old Town and the University, made it a good investment. He added that the development along the river would make it more so. I said that there was a lot of flood risk closer to the river, and climate change was making the river more unpredictable every year. He agreed.

Suddenly, my talking-to-strangers anxiety perceptibly decreased.

I worry a lot about climate change (and a little about the gentrification of my neighborhood). You don't have to feel the same way about it; as long as you acknowledge that it's real, I recognize you as a fellow member of the reality-based community. We can communicate!

Comments

[lilysea]

As long as you acknowledge that it's real, I recognize you as a fellow member of the reality-based community. We can communicate!

I feel the same way about

a) chronic illness;
b) chronic pain;
c) chronic fatigue;
d) migraine
e) fragrance being a migraine trigger for some people;

I have anxiety about talking to strangers or acquaintances, because so many strangers either outright deny the reality of a, b, c, d, e

or massively downplay their impact.

A woman on a plane once told me "I never get sick, I don't believe in getting sick, I won't allow myself to get sick" and made a whole lot of judgmental remarks about chronically ill people. Then she revealed later she'd just got out of hospital after a 10 day stay for pneumonia!

[randomdreams]

I've been having a lot of that recalibration-during-conversation lately. I'm glad it went well.

[jesse_the_k]

w000t