I’ve never had the chance social encounters I seek over Zoom. There’s a lesson in that

I wrote recently about how the virus has taken away some of the chances we have for meeting casual acquaintances, the ones we have with people we see regularly in the grocery store, the dry cleaners or in a favorite restaurant. I realized recently how much I also miss serendipitous meetings as well.

The other day, I had a social distanced get together with a good friend — in her back yard, 8 feet apart, each of us with our own bowl of snacks and glass of wine. A wonderful, two-hour catch up after more than a month apart. A real gift.

As I left, so grateful for the time together, I walked out of her house and saw a bicycle rider with a dog tethered to her waist. I can’t resist cute dogs, and this one had the live-wire joy of a puppy. I walked toward them. She stopped her bike and introduced the puppy, “Evie” (Evelyn).

We realized we knew each other. She’s the wife of a young man who is the son of good friends of ours. We watched him grow up, move to Seattle, get married. Now they’ve returned to Boise. I’d not seen her for a couple of years, so it was a surprise and a treat.

We stood and talked for 15 minutes, about the dog, about her yard, about their work and lives during the virus.

Second gift of the day. And something I realized I’ve been unable to have for months: a chance encounter with someone I know.

I’d never have had that encounter via Zoom, email or any other virus-appropriate way of meeting. Instead, the dog brought us together, as dogs do.

The fact that we were able to meet by accident was something I miss so much.

As we go through these weeks and months, I think we’re all finding what we miss.

But I hope we’ll also find the things that we cherish enough to try to rebuild them into our lives when we can.

Nancy Napier is a Boise State University distinguished professor. nnapier@boisestate.edu

This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.