My family calls me a strange introvert. Why? Because I often feel completely comfortable talking to strangers but can struggle socially with acquaintances at social engagements. I have no idea if this is some weird splinter skill or a function of not talking to many people IRL during the pandemic, but it is a thing for me. So visualize my daughter at the Indigo Girls concert recently at her college when she had to take my pouch back to her dorm because it was too large for the venue and returning to the stadium to find me talking goats and the gentrification of Awendaw with the lady at the Merch table. The opening act for the concert was from Awendaw, a small town near where I l now live outside of Charleston. I told her about the new non profit I am helping get up and running and said I would be in touch.
Fast forward to our meeting today. She was a wealth of information and resources in the community. And bonus points for being a realtor who specializes in selling properties over 5 acres. She knows a family that might be interested in buying the Chicken Creek Compound!
I asked to come visit the non profit educational farm she runs in Mt Pleasant. She is truly my people, which I have been struggling to find in the Low Country as a super liberal woman. I do miss living in my liberal bubble of Chapel Hill, but today felt like I was finding my groove, my people here. Baby steps, I guess?
So, to my daughter and anyone else who thinks talking to strangers is weird. Sometimes those conversations are ones that come with some amazing connections and future friendships when you need them the most.