Touch of a Stranger

I took a moment this past Friday to reflect on some of the things that have changed in my life in the matter of just a few weeks. I can’t say that I feel good or bad about anything, but rather, I’m just glad to be able to feel again. For example, Friday morning while I was waiting in line for my coffee, a man not much older than myself was standing behind me with a couple of his colleagues. They were talking about the Stanley Cup playoffs and the World Cup and how they planned on sitting around drinking all weekend watching one and then the other. I was staring out the window at the rain when this man but his hand on the small of my back. Not hard – just enough that I knew he was touching me. He was rubbing his thumb back and forth really lightly, and I realized that he was touching my hair. Now this isn’t a new occurrence; I have had men and woman, young and old, reach out and touch my hair. I’ve even had a stylist refuse to cut it. But he wasn’t just touching my hair – he was caressing it. He was carrying on his conversation with his co-workers as naturally as I’m typing this sentence, and I don’t think they even caught on. But then there came a turn in the line, and when I stepped into it, I turned and looked him straight in the eyes. He swallowed hard and turned the most striking shade of red I think I’ve seen anyone turn in years. I’m not sure whether he thought I couldn’t feel it, or if he was doing it absentmindedly, but it was an interesting start to my morning. I just smiled at him, said quietly that it happened to me all the time, and proceeded to order my coffee. What I didn’t tell him is how remarkably soothing it felt, and I’m still a little surprised at how relaxed I felt for the rest of the day.

It was just one of many inspirations I needed to resume my love of writing. I had quashed it just shy of two years ago because other forces in my life were draining any creative spark out of me. It has taken nearly a full year for this glimmer of literary yearning to come back, and I made time for myself over the weekend to write once again. Some days it’s hard to find the time, as it requires down time where one can slow down and collect their thoughts, but I’ve missed it. And it will only come back to its former passion only if I make time for it. However, I digress...

More to come...