strangers

I hear her over there and she’s saying,
Well I saw that he commented on her status
and she’s not my friend
but like
I could see the update
so that’s how I knew about the job change.

They stir the whipped cream through their coffee
and keep going,
about updates
and the way they know
things that way.

I’ve been feeling scared to say hello to another stranger,
she’s reading a Donald Miller book in a chair nearby.
I figure we’re both probably going to hear him
tonight.
The conversation that’s still going makes me
want to say hello to a stranger in person.

So we talk a moment
and we find out we know some of the same people.
Her smile is the light up the room kind
and I’m glad I asked about her book
and if she’s going tonight because she is.
So we talk about what it is we love about Miller books.

Right there in person
two strangers connecting without a
blinking cursor
or a keyboard

I had an apple tart
and I said yes to the caramel and whipped cream.
I tweeted that I was happy about the apple tart
and that I’m going to hear Donald Miller speak
tonight with Shaina
(the hardest working freelance writer and photog on the interwebs)
and because of the tweet I learned that Kim’s husband
is a fan too but he can’t go tonight.
We connected.

I love the fast and impulsive connections
we hold at our fingertips online
but even though that’s true,
sometimes I want to go back in time
to when our quickest human connections were unplanned
and random and almost always in-person.
Where we see something and we ask,
even a stranger
right in person
even though they might not receive it warmly
because most of the time,
they do.

I didn’t ask her to be my friend on facebook
and I didn’t tell her I have a blog.
I told her that I know someone she may know
because of her job
and then we smiled a knowing smile
because those are good people to know.

Now Shaina texted to say she’s on her way
so I’m closing this blinking cursor and keyboard
because I get to see her now.

That’s why this is the end of another freely written (fast with no edits) post from a coffee shop. Try it sometime, it’s fun.

Peace, friends.