October 24, 2018
Surely and unfortunately some seniors are lonely because they have minimal opportunity to interact with others. My heart goes out to them; loneliness hurts like a knife cut.
This morning, before I left the house, I decided to take note of every single interaction for this day, personal and mediated.
- At the breakfast table I said to Joy, “Hey, you’ve had a huge work week. Why don’t you take off today. The whole day off.” I don’t know whether she heard me but in less than five minute she got up and began working on a big laundry.
- On the walk with Rudy I didn’t meet anyone.
- On Facebook Richard K. and I teased each other.
- At Coat Rack Cafe, the clerk complimented his own coffee and told me I could come back for seconds.
- Before long Marvin M. arrived. Coffee as secular communion. He introduced me to Andrea Wolf’s The Invention of Nature; Alexander von Humboldt’s New World . I promised to research whether Alexander von Humboldt was associated with the Humboldt’s Current. (At home I checked Wikipedia and found this: The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.[1] It is an eastern boundary current flowing in the direction of the equator, and extends 500–1,000 km (310–620 mi) offshore. The Humboldt Current is named after the Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. In 1846, von Humboldt reported measurements of the cold-water current in his book Cosmos.) I sent this paragraph to Marvin this afternoon.
- FFrom Coat Rack cafe I drove to Lebanon for coffee with Carl C. He did better than I in our agreement to research health lights. He brought a batch of papers describing lights and their proper use.
- At the service station the communication at the gasoline pump was altogether electronic.
- The day was so beautiful that when I returned home I took Rudy for a second and longer walk, and specifically to an area where I could let Rudy run. Then I met Shawndra M who was walking her dog. She was ready for the dogs to meet each other, but Rudy is anxious among big dogs, expressing his small size by leaping at the nose of the bigger dog. So we chatted from a distance.
- At home I learned that Joy must go to work tonight because another worker is ill. Bummer. So we enjoyed an early dinner together.
- Got a message asking whether I could pick up potatoes from a farmer for my daughter’s catering business.
- Another message inquiring whether I could pick up my grandson, who will fly in to Indianapolis International Airport for Thanksgiving.
- A third message setting a date for a promised presentation.
- A fourth message that confuses me, about a meeting at Wildwood Market that mystifies me.
- Neighbor Ora phoned to inquire whether we received “Reach” in the mail today. No.
- A birthday phone call to Ben a grandson. He must make up his mind before Friday whether to take a very attractive job offer.
- Joy came home and we reviewed our days.
That was my day of interactions. What’s to be made of it? Well, there was nothing terribly earthshaking about any one of the contacts, but at the close of the day, I felt connected and a human being in community.
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