The desk I sit at has seen some things over the years, and while it’s starting to show its mileage, it’s still sturdy and small enough for the space it occupies. The drawer bottom pops out at the back if it gets too crammed with shit, or too heavy with shit. I’m constantly having to take it out, go through the whole drawer to lighten the load, then pop the platform back in.
While rummaging through it this time, I came across my business card stash from over the years. They’re from people I met at photo gigs and events, but most likely wouldn’t know me from Adam. Truthfully, I barely remember any of them either.
Except for one.
The business card
I was in New York City for a gig sometime in the Fall of 2011. I was going to be alone for the day, so I took the opportunity to check off a couple of things off my NYC bucket list.
This particular time, the bucket list item was to have a Reuben at Carnegie Deli. The line was out the door, as usual, but it is what I had to do in order to achieve food nirvana.
If you’re a single, and they’re busy, they just fill tables up. They gave me a seat at a table with a gentleman in his late 70s, Mr. Lou.
After exchanging pleasantries, we began to chat about what we were doing alone at Carnegie Deli. He was in town to visit his financier son in Connecticut. He lived in Florida and divided his time visiting his two kids, with other one being in DC.
Once he mentioned Florida, we started talking about home and places we were both familiar with. It was one of the nicest conversations I’d had with a complete stranger in a long time. When we parted ways, he handed me his business card and offered a friendly hand if I ever needed any business taken care of in Florida.
*side note: I looked him up a couple of years later and the old coot had had a bit of a run in with the law doing some shady shit. Low level mafia kind of shit. Pretty sure some due duligence was involved.
Where was I going with this?
While I vacillate between my love and disdain for mankind, most times, my table is open to anyone who doesn’t want to be alone, can’t find a seat, needs company, whatever. There’s a good chance I will chat you up and invite myself to your party if I see you buying close to $1000 in alcohol at Kroger. There’s a good chance I might mumble something funny under my breath to break the silence. If I get anyone to laugh, I’ve done my good deed for the day.
I don’t know. I could go off on some nostalgic tangent about how technology is killing our ability to experience moments like this. Do people not strive for these kinds of connections anymore? I feel we need them more than we don’t. We’re forgetting our humanity.
I’m not ok with it.