WOTD

today i learned that the word “sanguine” means, surprisingly, “optimistic or positive, esp. in an apparently bad situation.”

sangre equals blood. i had always just assumed sanguine meant bloody, or at least had something to do with bloodiness.

so that’s the new thing i learned today. that’s the word of the day.

***

we’re still digging out of the snow here on the far far far north part of denver. my neighborhood is like a middle finger that sticks up from the palm of denver into commerce city. the alleys were a little treacherous this morning, the slush that had melted yesterday in the sun having frozen into unpredictable sheets of ice over night.

this morning before my first video meeting, i jogged down the sidewalk to see if there had been any progress made in plowing either of the cross streets to the north or south of my house that would connect to one of the for-sure-plowed more major streets to the east of us.

no luck.

but i did run across a stuck Denver Water vehicle in the intersection. i made my way through the ice to ask the driver if he needed help. meanwhile a man came out of a nearby house and walked over to assess further. “nah,” the guy said. “it’s fine, i’ll make it out. i’m in no rush. i’m government.”

eye roll.

i let the Denver Water guy government his way out of his icy predicament and introduced myself to the other man. turns out he’s a house painter who had to come back to repaint one of the recently sold houses because of some weird deficiency in the product that the builder had switched to. but the noteworthy part of this interaction was this: he reached out to shake my hand… and i shook it.

this was literally the first stranger’s hand i’ve shook in over a year. it felt oddly significant.

later in the afternoon during a break between otherwise back-to-back meetings, i slipped on a sweatshirt and went for a run. partly because i need to move, god damn it, but also to survey the situation beyond our little block. there was still a lot of untouched snowy streets, but the sidewalks were mostly clear. it was a slower run, picking my way through the blocks of snow as i crossed streets, but still felt good to be outside.

where the more major streets were plowed, i ran in the road, and i was reminded that cars and pedestrians can in fact peacefully coexist if (a) everything is slowed way down, and (b) people know to look out for each other. (shared space. it’s a thing. what do we think about it?)

just a block away from my house i spotted an idling front loader that started driving in reverse towards me. i waved and him and asked if he could do a quick run down our street – it’s just a few blocks and could make a difference. he smiled. i got you… and began to turn the front loader in the direction of my street. i smiled back. you’re the best. i appreciate you.

(by the way, it used to be “i appreciate it.” somewhere along the line, it’s morphed to “i appreciate you.” i kind of like it better this way.)

for the rest of the afternoon, i saw that same front loader drive up and down our street a couple of times. i think he must have been fixing those east-west streets too. thank goodness. we are no longer cut off from the rest of the world.

and then this evening i went back in the alley to see about any touch up digging i needed to do so that i’d be able to pull my car out to drive to work in the morning. i met a new neighbor across the way. john. and his wife arlene and they live with his elderly mother. and they’re asian to boot! i felt like i lucked out and couldn’t wait to tell my mom that there was another older asian woman just across the alley! they could hang! (john’s mom is 95 which is no joke. so my mom would be the youthful spirit of the two.)

as john and i were catching up, blake, from the end of the block came walking up the alley towards us with our snowblower, and asked simply “am i too late?” nodding towards the pile of snow i had already shoveled out from behind my car. “well if you’re offering…” i pointed to the as-yet-untouched snow behind C’s space in the garage. and off he went.

i had a bunch of really lovely, small moments with people in my neighborhood today. it warmed my heart.

i’m feeling pretty sanguine about it all, tbh. 🙂