Here is a little conversation we had with a couple sitting near us at dinner the other night.
Them: Oh your baby is so cute!
Us: Why, thank you, you’re so sweet.
Them: We are expecting our first, she is seven months along, we are also having a girl!
Us: How exciting! Little girls are wonderful.
Them: What is your little one’s name?
Us: Emma
Them: What a beautiful name, we are naming ours Stella.
Us: That is so sweet.
Future dad: Is it scary? Were you scared?
Paul: Not scared, but nervous. I didn’t do any research ahead of time, but I figured it out as I went.
Future dad: Oh right, nervous, that’s the word. I am nervous.
Us: It is nerve wracking, but amazing.
Them: Well God bless you three.
Us: And many blessings to you too.
Paul and I talk to strangers. And we talk a lot.
It is something that each of us have done independently our whole lives and something we do as a couple as well (peas in a pod). Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I am in one of those moods where the headphones go in and I want a completely conversation-free bus ride. Usually Monday mornings.
But I enjoy meeting people anywhere and everywhere. We have chatted with a young transplant from the Czech Republic here on a work visa. We met a family visiting from Brazil and had fun making Emma laugh. We get restaurant recommendations, we give directions, we say hello, and we smile. I ask questions and I make connections.
Although you won’t find me chatting about the weather alone in a dark alley, I am always one to stop and chat with a stranger. I find out about a piece of their lives and they find out a piece of mine. In a city with a zillion people, we have a moment of connection.
I hope Emma sees Paul and I connecting with people from all walks of life. I want her to be confident and outspoken as well as kind and open towards others. We are not meant to walk this earth alone.
So I challenge you to say hello to that woman on the bus or that man tapping his foot on the bench or that family who looks like they are from out of town.
Who knows, it could lead to something great.