My house in El Dorado is the first one I’ve ever lived in by myself.
I love it. After a decade of apartments, duplexes and town homes, coming home to my own space where I can listen to my favorite music cranked up loud is a blessing.
In Norman, I met my next door neighbors — the people whom I shared a wall with — a few times. They helped me start my car once when my battery died, I baked them Christmas cookies. It was nice, but our interactions were few and far between. We left each other alone, tried to keep the TV volume down and generally stay out of each other’s way.
Not here in El Dorado. I met my neighbor before I’d even moved in — he was out mowing as I was looking at the house I’m in now. For the first month, we interacted a few times. He was nice enough to mow my yard a few times while I was getting a mower, so I gave him a “Thank You” gift card.
But then, things stepped up a notch: he and his wife invited me over for dinner. So over I came, and we had a great time getting to know each other, discussing the neighborhood, talking about our interests. They sent me home with some leftovers, and we made some plans to hang out again soon.
It was nice, wholesome, genuine.
Seems kind of silly that an interaction like that would be a big deal for me, but let’s face it: in an age where communication seems to be shifting more and more to digital spaces, it’s clear we’re losing something along the way. When we talk face-to-face, there’s so much more going on than just the words we’re saying: the body language we use, the inflections in our voices, our facial movements, everything is telling a story. We’re built to interact in person.
I’m not knocking digital communication. It’s amazing to keep up with family and friends all over the world simply by logging into a website or sending a text message. We’re lucky to live in such an age. But nothing beats just sitting down and having a discussion across a dinner table.
There’s a lot of talk about how divided our country is, and I’m not interested in foraying into the political realm with this column (unless I feel it’s absolutely necessary). But I will say that I think at least a few of our problems could be solved if we spent less time angrily typing at each other on our keyboards, sat down, and actually gave each other a chance.
I hope you find some time to come visit me at the newspaper. I’m planning a “Coffee with the Editor” meeting for next month as well. I’ll be at a local coffee shop for several hours with nothing on the agenda other than getting to know interested community members. What times do y’all think would be good? Any suggestions on a venue? I’ll share more information as I nail down the specifics. I look forward to seeing you. Send me your thoughts at [email protected].