Lens-Artists Challenge #90: Distance

…These days, everyone’s talking about and hopefully practicing “Social Distancing”. Since it’s something we should all be doing, we thought a challenge focused on DISTANCE might be an appropriate reminder of its importance.

~~~

I hope that sometime in the not so distant future we never need to hear the term “Social Distance” again. Which ought to be called “Physical Distance” – a more accurate description. A time of anxiety…and often loneliness. For me and most everyone I know.

I am very thankful for the connections that social media and FaceTime and Zoom and Skype offer us. However…I increasingly miss actual three dimensional flesh and blood face to face conversation. A rectangular screen is no substitute for a big bear hug. One little hand holding yours. Catching up with friends over lunch at a favorite restaurant.

At times it feels like I briefly stepped into a nightmare I had as a child…where I got off the school bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Panicked, I ran up and down empty streets from house to house unable to recognize any as my own. Until I woke up, heart racing, groggy, straining my eyes in the dark until I finally realized it was just a dream.

However…now for very good reasons…we do what we have to do. Distancing ourselves.

I know that someday I will wake up from this surreal existence. In the meantime, I try to remember how beautiful distance can actually be…

When I purposely sought out being alone.

Comforted by an empty path through the trees.

Offering a glimmer of hope.

In the distance.