Exchange of Smiles
Apr. 16th, 2005 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieI've discovered something else interesting about walking in the rain. Specifically, about walking in the rain early in the morning, before 9 a.m.. I got up early this morning to get some miles in, as I knew I had a really busy day ahead. It was raining for the entire morning portion of my walk. Not drizzling, not misting, but honest-to-goodness rain and wind and bluster. The kind of day that you know if you go out you are going to get W-E-T wet and no mistake. I dressed accordingly and resigned myself to getting soaked.
There weren't too many other people out exercising at that hour and in that weather. That wasn't too surprising. What was surprising was that everyone I saw, without exception, looked over and met my eyes. Quite often this took effort, not just in the turn of the head but in the adjustment of a hat or a hood to make eye contact, but invariably everyone did. 90% of the time, the walker/jogger/biker smiled at me, just as I smiled at him or her. (I couldn't tell if the look I got was a smile with two of them; they were making that grimace that might be a smile, or might be a "I'm in pain!" reaction to jogging.) The smiles were open, friendly, and acknowledging, kind of a combination of "Wow, someone else is out here too!" and "Hey, how you doing?" and "Neat, a fellow crazy person!" that was incredibly cheering. Quite often - more often than not - murmured greetings were exchanged, in the few seconds it took for us to pass each other by. "Good morning," we'd say, and despite the weather it really was.
It wasn't just the weather, and it wasn't just the time of day. I've walked a lot in both, and while acknowledgement is fairly common, it isn't anywhere near as universal and cheerful as I saw today. It wasn't just the day, either. I walked around the lake a little later in the morning, still in the rain, still relatively early but after 10 a.m., and the meet-your-eyes phenomena was distinctly reduced. I think it was a combination of the hour and the weather. A secret handshake, if you will, between fellow travellers on the inclement and early road. I guess I've made the club.
There weren't too many other people out exercising at that hour and in that weather. That wasn't too surprising. What was surprising was that everyone I saw, without exception, looked over and met my eyes. Quite often this took effort, not just in the turn of the head but in the adjustment of a hat or a hood to make eye contact, but invariably everyone did. 90% of the time, the walker/jogger/biker smiled at me, just as I smiled at him or her. (I couldn't tell if the look I got was a smile with two of them; they were making that grimace that might be a smile, or might be a "I'm in pain!" reaction to jogging.) The smiles were open, friendly, and acknowledging, kind of a combination of "Wow, someone else is out here too!" and "Hey, how you doing?" and "Neat, a fellow crazy person!" that was incredibly cheering. Quite often - more often than not - murmured greetings were exchanged, in the few seconds it took for us to pass each other by. "Good morning," we'd say, and despite the weather it really was.
It wasn't just the weather, and it wasn't just the time of day. I've walked a lot in both, and while acknowledgement is fairly common, it isn't anywhere near as universal and cheerful as I saw today. It wasn't just the day, either. I walked around the lake a little later in the morning, still in the rain, still relatively early but after 10 a.m., and the meet-your-eyes phenomena was distinctly reduced. I think it was a combination of the hour and the weather. A secret handshake, if you will, between fellow travellers on the inclement and early road. I guess I've made the club.
