Last week I went to a coffee shop with one goal: read my book – a romance novel, of course – while enjoying a cup of chai tea. The incredibly delicious “supreme croissant” was an added bonus.
Putting my book down to take a bite of the croissant, I glanced around the coffee shop and saw a man walk in who looked like one of my neighbors. Very suddenly and without thought, I was on my feet walking towards him. I leaned down, interrupting his focus, to say, “Hi, do we live in the same neighborhood? I think this is the second time I’ve seen you at a coffee shop.” Way to go, Brooke, that’s not awkward at all.
Turns out, we live just three houses away. We had a really nice conversation about how we sometimes cross paths during our respective morning commutes – his to work, mine to walk my kids to school – and chatted about the new construction happening on our street. We parted ways with him thanking me for saying hi.
I sat back down a bit dazed by my boldness. I’m not friendly – my high school years are proof of that. Sometime during high school, I transitioned from chatting with friends at lunch freshman year to sitting alone at the lunch table reading books my senior year. I avoided talking to people, probably because I was self-conscious and because talking to people took a lot of effort.
Not much has changed, here I was again, reading a book by myself at a cafe table. Except that I went out of my way to talk to someone. And I actually enjoyed it.
Then I realized that this wasn’t an isolated incident.
Just two weeks prior while waiting in line at an Orioles game, I saw a woman from my high school walk by. We were friendly in high school but we weren’t friends. And yet, for some reason, I felt compelled to go out of my way to say hi to her. I stepped out of the line, waved my hand enthusiastically in the air to make sure she would notice me, and shouted, “Hey there! It’s good to see you!” She smiled back and said hi as she continued on her way.
Just like the cafe conversation, I left this brief interaction feeling happy, even if I approached it with a little too much hand-waving enthusiasm.
I sidled back in line, a grin forming on my face. That felt good, even if I approached it with a little too much hand-waving enthusiasm.
Surprised by my own boldness and newly developed compulsion to jump out at familiar faces, I think I can finally shed my shy and awkward high school self and embrace both sitting at a table reading solo and saying hi to people every now and then, awkwardness and all.
Thanks to and for forging write-or-die friendships with me, no awkwardness included.
This turned out so well Brooke!!
To the person who reached out to me in a zoom room, can't imagine you as unfriendly. That was the beginning of a great friendship!