Markings designating six-feet intervals remain on the grocery store floor, left-over from the COVID 19 pandemic when shoppers were urged not to get close to one another. They made me think about how everyone has personal and emotional space, the distance maintained to feel comfortable and secure during social encounters.
It reminds me of writers’ seminars I’ve attended. One of the objectives of the gatherings is for people to meet others who enjoy the same profession or pastime. We all wear comfortable summer clothes so there’s no hint of who we are in our everyday lives. It’s a time I’m just Lolita instead of my husband’s wife or our children’s mother. Everyone is friendly and there’s no lack of subjects to talk about with strangers.
It amazes me that when I enter a large room, which is filled with chairs for all who will be attending the lecture, the early entrants sit down leaving an empty spot between themselves and the person already seated. It seems that although everyone chats, it’s done from a distance. As the room fills with people, the latecomers are forced to crawl over legs and feet to claim a vacancy. I began to wonder why leave a space to be filled later? I adopted the habit of sitting down beside a person–I’ve received many startled looks
One morning, a man and I were the first for breakfast in the college cafeteria where the symposium was being held. He’d been there before and gave me a run-down of the procedure. I thanked him. When I had filled my plate, no one had joined us two early-birds. I sat down at his table for four so we could visit while we ate. He immediately started telling me about his wife. To quash any anxieties he had that I was flirting, I countered with tales about my husband. The room soon filled with people and two more joined us.
Do you ever feel someone is invading your space?