eavesdropping

05 Apr, 2024

I'm sitting in a local spot after work. My intention had been to break my routine so I could hopefully coerce my brain into coughing up some words in a legible format.

Instead, I've spent the last thirty minutes perusing some of the essays and articles I bookmarked earlier this week (I'm so deeply guilty of binge-reading fanfiction and therefore neglecting my stack of online articles and long-as-the-day-is TBR list). I figured, Whatever, I'm not writing, but at least I'm reading something I can bring up in day-to-day conversation.¹

This is a little bit of a lie, though. More than anything, I've been eavesdropping.

I don't even really pay attention to what's being said. I couldn't replicate a single sentence from the past half hour. Instead, I've tuned intermittently into the tone of voice from table to table - a radio signal cutting in and out.

To my left: two adults and a child. Their voices are quiet, but warm; a bit lilting against the child's energized responses - it's playful. They're making the mundane more fun.

To my right: a younger group (undergraduates, maybe?) working together on something or other. They talk in low, serious whispers, and move in shuffled papers and keystrokes, sometimes interspersed with a sudden bought of laughter.

Across from me: a couple, talking in hushed undertones, but their words flit back and forth in a familiar, well-worn way; teasing and sweet and deeply fond.

Around the corner, I can hear the employees chatting racously with regulars. They're the loudest of the crowd, sure-footed and buoyant in the glow of familiar faces.

In my bubble of self, I don't feel lonely. So many microcosms of connection are brushing by me moment by moment; the touch of which leaves behind a kind of effervescence, like sea spray - bright and sharp and lingering - on the wind.

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#diary #personal #ramblings