What if today we paused

It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to fly to teach in person.
To say I’m having all the feelings is a vast understatement, and I mean all the feelings.

As I sit here waiting to board,
I try to make eye contact to smile with as many humans as possible.
I’m not sure why.
Perhaps it’s because so many of us seem so done, empty, disconnected, beyond tired,
and even out of reach right now.
Maybe it’s because I want even just a glimpse of a time
when we weren’t so afraid to be close to, talk to, to notice, and truly see one another.
I suppose I do it because I refuse to have anything else stolen from us,
because I refuse to believe I’m the only one who is in need of humanity and connection,
even if only in the side-crinkle-eye-contact smile of a masked stranger at the airport.

What if today we paused long enough to make sure the person across from us
knew without a doubt that we were happy to see them?