Chillin' At the Community Garden

I like to check out the plots at the local community garden. Each person has a unique approach to planting and cultivating crops. One section is just corn, unusual in our climate; another is a jungle of vines and overgrown berries that looks like something in a menacing fairy tale. Some plant flowers, some, only food. There are a couple of mazes, some very straight rows, and a hodge-podge of other styles. And then there are these two guardians, just relaxed enough to fool me when I first caught a glimpse through the fennel. 

And that was that, enough to share for today. Except we went to a memorial gathering in the afternoon; we were eager to pay our respects and to see old friends. But the crowd, the unexpected unprotected density of it, made me want to turn tail and run back to hang out with these two. There were over a hundred people mingling in a small room, an open buffet, and random masking. People excited to see one another, lots of hugging and kissing and enthusiastic greetings. We might have been at a graduation in an outdoor stadium two days ago, but this was a whole other ball game. We were able to stay in the courtyard, listening to the eulogy through an open window, but it made us sad. Of course for the person who had passed, but for ourselves, this terrible isolation that we feel that doesnt seem to be shared very much anymore. Once again we ask ourselves: are we being foolish and alarmist, are we limiting ourselves into a solitary existence, or are we smart and safe? The feelings I had as I stood on the threshold of that venue were panic, fear, even revulsion. This is a place, and people, that holds many happy memories for us; we miss it terribly and neither of us was physically able to cross over that doorway. We were the only ones. Is this what the rest of our lives will be like? Should I sew up a couple of companions to sit with us in the garden?