people to wave at

I know not everyone is like this, but I'm the kind of person who really likes to know people. I'm not talking about popularity. I'm talking about something deeper. I'm talking about knowing someone so well that you can tell the difference between their good days and bad days just by looking at them: knowing what a person's not saying when they sigh. That's the kind of knowing I love. Deep knowing.

But being fairly new to Millersburg residency, I've been given the opportunity to experience the younger phases of knowing people. It is the young and tender phase that far proceeds the right to analyze their wordless expressions.

Yesterday Zack and I were running together on the trail at the bottom of the hill. It's a wonderful place to run and generally feels pretty private and out-of-the-way. Every now and then you'll pass a pair of high school young-lings in their school-pride sweaters gossiping in the supposed privacy of the trail or an elderly couple introducing some little pure-bread pup to the great outdoors. Sometimes I wave or nod my head; and other times I let the self-conscious knowledge of what a fashion-less sight I am when running get the best of me, and I give no nod or wave.

This time as we approached a little family cluster of walkers, I jumped full force into the "wave and turn to talk as you run" approach: a method of greeting that is humorous, yes, but hardly effective as far as conversational greetings go. But how could I help myself? This was not just any tiny family cluster of walkers: it was one that I knew.... well...at least on that surface level. I had met these new friends at a local house concert just two days before where I had struck up a good conversation with the father of the family. I called the names of my new friends as I ran past and twisted awkwardly around to answer a question or two about my run before there was too much distance to hear and too much twist in my step to sustain a good run.
Consistent to my talkative nature, I chattered with Zack for a bit about who the family was and how I had met them.
Now...I don't know what these people act like on a good day versus a bad day. I don't know what their troubles or joys are and I don't know what hides in the layers of their wordless expressions when they sigh or laugh.. but I was able to fill about a quarter mile's worth of conversation about these new acquaintances and that felt good.
I know how to reach the depths of what's going on with a person...but it's kind of fun to dedicate some time to what happens between neighbors who've only just met.
It's fun to create new people to wave to.


As always,
God is alive and we've got our eyes out for Him.