I surprised myself again today. I stopped in the woods, passing someone on the trail. I was wearing my crazy mosquito defense long pants, long sleeves, double shirt, hat with netting outfit and sweating bullets, when I crossed paths with a woman holding a portable fan up to her face. She explained (from a socially distant distance) to me that the little electric fan was for mosquitoes I gestured to my own get up. and she asked if the netting on the hat worked and where she could get one for herself. As I was telling her another woman came down the path wearing a hat with netting on it. Turns out, the other woman bumped into me years ago and was inspired by my get up.
So, the netted woman and I walked off in the same direction, and this is where the words that came out my mouth will make me look like the nicest most thoughtful person in the world. Believe me, the words that came out of my mouth shocked me.
We started walking together and I didn't want to be that close to a stranger without a mask and I really wanted to put my mask on, so I slid it out of my bag and without a second of forethought or planning I said "I'm gonna wear this. I think I'm healthy, I feel fine but, you know, you never know." (She thanked me and put hers on too)
We walked and chatted until we got to the end of the path, we formally introduced ourselves, I headed right towards the car, and she went left, and I just marveled that in an uncomfortable situation (hello, 2020) I didn't say "I don't trust you" or You seem nice but I don't know where you've been", or any number of feelings I might have had. What came out of my mouth without even thinking about it was the equivalent to "I don't actually know if I'm ok, so I will be considerate of you."
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