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Staying Apart, Together: I never thought I'd miss small talk with strangers

Kelly Lawler   | Paste BN

I realized yesterday how much I miss making small talk with strangers. 

It's not something I have really thought about missing over the past almost-11 months of pandemic life. I've thought about the obvious things that I miss – my friends and family, going to bars and restaurants, traveling, the dog park – but I didn't realize how much these little, forgettable interactions with people I don't know added to the fabric of my life in the "before times."

While digging my husband's car out of the snow yesterday after work, I saw a woman across the street attempting to free her car with a shovel the size of a kid's toy. I shouted behind my mask to ask if she wanted to borrow our extra shovel, and though she declined, we chatted for a bit about the snow, the neighborhood, the dogs walking by. She managed to free her car first even with her tiny shovel (ours was really, really stuck) and she drove away, and as I kept shoveling and sweating, I realized my mood had improved. 

There was so much I didn't realize I was taking for granted. I think a lot about how when this is all over, when I get to go sit and read at a coffee shop, how what was once an average and boring afternoon will feel magical. 

Maybe I'll appreciate the conversation with the barista a bit more. 

It's not all about the Super Bowl

When Laurent Duvernay-Tardif wakes up Friday, he will think about work, the one he left behind and the one that lies ahead.

Today's the last Friday practice, he'll think. Tomorrow we'll travel. How did Coach Reid manage the bye week? Will we practice inside or outside?

It will be 5:30 in the morning. It will be two days until Super Bowl 55, two days until his Kansas City Chiefs play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they try to become the first team to repeat as NFL champions in nearly two decades.

Then his focus will turn to his other work, though he won't know what it will be until he arrives. Duvernay-Tardif became the first of 69 active NFL players to opt out of the 2020 season due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and has been working as an orderly/nurse in a long-term care facility in Montreal.

He has fed patients, changed soiled linens, administered IVs, drawn blood, handed out medication, performed COVID-19 tests and conducted patient exams. 

He has missed his teammates and their success, yes, but he's also at peace. In this transition, he realized he needed to immerse himself fully into a role he felt was more of a duty. He has maintained contact with several Chiefs, but he also purposefully sought space, a buffer between his two jobs. 

"What I did is not going to change the world," Duvernay-Tardif told Paste BN. "I was part of a movement of thousands of people that gave their time to help, and they all deserve a lot of credit — more than me because I got a lot of credit from the media. 2020 actually redefined for me what it means to be a real hero.

We spoke to him and other NFL players who opted out of the season. Read the full story here. 

Today's reads

Today's pet

Why do we buy our pets expensive toys when we can just give them cardboard to play with?

"Gabby isn’t letting Covid get her down," says owner Bernice Rittenhouse. "As long as she has tunnels, boxes and paper to explore. She rules the roost!"

I feel like she probably rules the roost pretty constantly. 

That's all for this Super Bowl weekend. Stay safe, stay well, and keep socially distant as you watch the big game. I'll be back on Tuesday. Remember you can email stayingaparttogether@usatoday.com with coping tips, TV talk and anything else. 

All my very best,

Kelly Lawler 

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