my wild day out and about.

it was one of those days when the lock-down stay-at-home shxt felt less like self-isolation and more like self-flagellation. so i decided, fuggit, i’m gonna go crazy, wild and free. yeah that’s right: i went to the tim hortons drive-through. 

the young lady wearing clear plastic gloves at the window was super nice, seemed genuinely happy to see me. i felt for a moment as though i may have known her. and i enjoyed that coffee tremendously, probably because i didn’t make it. as i sat in the truck drinking and munching, i watched a fellow slowly drive by on a lawn-tractor, along the highway. he looked utterly unconcerned, his almost clownish lack of speed no issue at all: just moved along, as much right to be there as the trucks whizzing by or the granite boulders behind. 

i crumpled the bag, with the unfinished remains of whatever that was, threw it on the passenger-side floor and started the engine. as heart-stopping an experience as tim’s was, i felt like carrying on down into the village, to take a look around, go for a walk. 

there was an old guy, heavy plaid jacket and dark jeans, bent over collecting water at the spring with a younger guy waiting patiently from a respectful distance. the old guy looked around to see a reassuring gesture from the other. river road was mostly deserted, but someone waved nonchalantly as i passed, and then another. 

as i walked along burnside an acquaintance came out from the side of his house. while we chatted both of his sons came out to join and their cat couldn’t have cared less about the two hockey-stick rule. he or she rubbed up against my ankle as i bent to give a scratch. 

i wondered, while walking on, why i’d thought of those guys as acquaintances when clearly we were friends, happy to see each other again after so long. a kid rode up on a bike, made a circle around me smiling before wheeling off down the street. houses were quiet for the most part, peaceful. two or three folks in their yards along the way turned to wave, each wave a declaration of solidarity. 

i drove up to farrelton to see a buddy. we sat on opposite sides of his front porch talking seriously, seriously laughing and i noticed a deer in the field on my way out. the highway was strangely quiet as i headed back toward the end of my wild day. 

the pandemic’s been a helluva lot harder so far elsewhere, has robbed many of hope. still, as one ages, living in the moment takes on a greater significance, and that’s not at all bad. the future’s tremendously uncertain. hey, it may even be a better world. we can hope. 

what is certain, however, is that strangers have become acquaintances, acquaintances have become friends. and friends have always really been family.

“we have heard that we must love one another. but why? why must i love everyone? simply, because the reality is oneness. from the lowest worm that crawls under our feet to the largest creature that lives, all have various bodies, but are in fact one life.” Swami Vivekananda,