Connecting

 

I have been trying to be more sociable lately.

I have always been friendly, but now I am making the effort to actually get to know some people in my building a bit better. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for walking buddies. I don't want people dropping by for tea or coffee. I just want to connect with them when we are both out in communal spaces, so I am joining in briefly here and there.

I am truly enjoying our little chats and getting to know more about who they are. I try to share some about myself too. They seem amenable to this and it is both fun and nice to have them call out encouragement when they see me walking, or I show up at some community event like a potluck or concert.

Last night I went to my first DJ Jukebox event. A local resident in our building has quite a collection of music, microphones, speakers etc. and he shares it in an event he organizes each month. He sings along with the music he features and he is really quite good! There was only a small group of people there last night. Ten at the most but people came and went. They brought snacks to share and seemed to be familiar with each other as if they do this regularly. 

I enjoyed the music, the singer, the feeling of joining in, but mostly I enjoyed watching the people. Two of them occasionally got up and slow danced to some of the songs. Others clapped or swayed with the beat. A couple pretended to direct and some even seemed to be reenacting old pop hand actions from the past. It was a charming, passionate group of people that was so varied and yet so accepting. There were people dressed in their best and people wearing pajama bottoms and sweatshirts.

It was surely a motley crew, but sometimes it brought tears to my eyes. This kind of community is rare in my opinion and I am so glad I discovered it.