Unplanned Interactions

DUKES FANS: “ When we live a good life, we are capable of the joys of surprise. But surprise is not going to come up to your door, knock, and ask to be let in. You have to be out in the world and open to it”…. Anonymous This past week has been like an oasis in the desert. The weather has been much more moderate and bearable. The temperatures have been in the 70’s and low 80’s for the most part, and the humidity has been much lower than it had been during the previous weeks. I have been able to breathe, and most enjoyably, been able to enjoy being outdoors in my neighborhood. I have not been out in a leisurely fashion for much of this summer due to the weather, and I have missed the casual joys of neighborhood life. I have lived in my neighborhood for 35 years-almost half of my life. I consider myself extremely lucky to live here in West Mt Airy as there are so many things that I love about this area. For one, I love the houses. There are a lot of rowhouses, but they are wider than the stereotypical narrow ones that fill many Philly neighborhoods, and most of them have porches. They also have some patch of land both in front of and behind them. That means there are plenty of opportunities to see and have interactions with neighbors in unplanned ways. Folks are sitting on their porches and/or working on that plot of land as I walk by, and unplanned interactions take place. Little check-in conversations, talks about trips and activities, what the kids are up to, and more have taken place on just about every street I have been traveling this week. We have two coffeehouses in the neighborhood, and more folks have been sitting outside the shops, enjoying their beverages, sitting with friends and family, and greeting me as I walk by. People have just been out walking-with friends, with kids, and with dogs. And so there have been more chance for unplanned interactions. The hot, humid weather kept a lot of us indoors for a while, as being outdoors was largely miserable. But this week we are all out and about, and the unplanned interactions are plentiful and joyous. So here’s to the possibility of surprise and the unplanned. Indeed, some of the best times in our lives are things we neither plan nor envision. And in this weather, it is much easier to encounter those surprises. Enjoy being out and about.