Social distancing -- part 2

Ok, let's be candid.  My most frequent social activity in recent months has been clicking "like" on Facebook posts by Facebook "friends."

What I'm trying to say is that I'm not, under the best of conditions, a social butterfly.  I walk, I say "hi" to neighbors, I smile at strangers, their kids, and their dogs.  I'm not an anti-social grouch.  But I tend to live inside books, as well as inside my own head.

So -- having heard this confession -- you won't be surprised when I tell you that I hadn't engaged with anyone in person, face-to-face -- family, friend, or casual acquaintance -- with anything beyond a few sentences in passing since the arrival of the pandemic here in March. 

Until today.  Today I bit the bullet.  Pat M., a friend dating back to law school (and frequent hiking companion in healthier times) and I have been trying to arrange a city walk for several weeks (see June 26 post), and today we finally got together.  We'd been trying to avoid any activity within the prior two weeks that might infect the other; these efforts had led to a couple of delays.  Even now, Pat had been playing tennis with a friend within the past few days, but carefully.  No handshakes, no high fives, no post-match beers at the nearest tavern. 

I did a quick cost/benefit analysis, and agreed.  "Let's do it."

We wore masks.  We agreed we'd stay six feet apart as we talked.  Have you ever tried to walk five miles, talking to someone, while maintaining six-foot distances?  The masks stayed in place; the distancing was ignored.  But we were walking briskly, and there was a breeze.  We never stopped walking and chatted face to face.

If my time has come, my time has come.  But I think we were reasonably prudent.  And Pat is at least as obsessive/compulsive as I am about health guidelines.

It was fun.  Chats on Zoom are fun, too, but this was "funner."  It was great to catch up with each other's activities (a topic requiring only a brief chat), the lack thereof, and hopes for the future.  We both read a lot, so there was that, too. 

We walked from my house through the Arboretum, through the Madrona neighborhood, over the impressive Pine Street footbridge, and back through Madison Park (for any of you who live in these parts and are keeping score).  I showed him favorite parts of town that I've discovered during my own, solitary walks.  The day was warm and beautiful, Lake Washington was sparkling, and Mt. Rainier loomed dead ahead as we strolled down Madrona Drive.

It was a pleasure to remove my sweaty mask at the end, but it was an enjoyable two-hour social event (or what passes for a "social event" in my life).  We'll try to do something similar in another few weeks.