I miss people. I miss the women I used to see at yoga and zumba; I don’t even know their names. I miss our favorite grocery store cashier. I miss the various moms I used to chat with just about anywhere. I miss sitting at a bar surrounded by people I’d rather not talk to.

I miss bartending. I used to talk to SO MANY PEOPLE. Never mind eat all their leftovers.

I read an article along this vein and it has allowed me to acknowledge that I really really miss the random people in my life who I don’t even know.

I was out for my daily walk the other day. As I passed another person, I threw out a standard,

“Good morning!”

At which point he fills me in on everything going on in his life. I have not met this neighbor before. And in pre-pandemic life I would have done the slow inching away, signaling that the conversation is all done I’ve got other things to do. But I do not have other things to do. It’s a pleasure to meet your dog, please tell me more.

During another walk a random car pulls over a safe distance away from me and the driver rolls down the window. Pre-pandemic my reaction would’ve been disinclination to talk and keep moving. This time I stop in my tracks and return the realtor’s greeting with a cheerful “hello!”

Sorry I do not know anyone interested in selling their house. Unless it’s possible to sell a house with a half-finished deck? KIDDING. Not kidding. I’ll be at the Cape all summer, let me know when it’s done.

Turning the corner on a year for the pandemic and year three for the deck. It’s anyone’s guess which will be done first.

I can’t even text with all these random people I’m missing. It’s just a big empty void. Like where the railings and stairs of my deck are supposed to be.

When I sat down to write this blog I hadn’t intended to make a deck pandemic life analogy, but here we are.

I’m in love with my family, blessed beyond what I could have ever imagined. They’re the concrete filled sonotubes of my deck. If you don’t know what sonotubes are, consider yourself lucky.

But I also wouldn’t mind some more people in my life. Kinda like a deck is nice but a deck with railings, throw pillows and cocktails is even nicer.