Voting yesterday at Vantage House.

Folks are often thinking I am running for office, so they may have particularly thought that for Special Election Tuesday. I was able to stop over to my polling place on the walk from church to the corner.

What a gift to run into two neighborhood KC friends in the building. Otherwise, the corner had a decent stream of activity. I was joking with a congregant recently: “I know just about every look at human can give when encountering a strange woman on the corner with a balloon.” And it is true, I don’t press people. I know pretty right away if a person is open to engaging or would like to speak.

One woman stopped with her dog and let me pet her kindly canine. Her: You should carry a sign or something: “Free Hugs.” People don’t know what you are about.

There is a mystery to it with no obvious sign. Less for the mystique, I asure you. More for the simple fact that some folks are able to receive the wave as joy, and some not. A pastor to some. An anonymous (likely fool) person to others. Each remains from the corner’s vantage point, beloved.

I was surprised that the gentleman who has offered the middle finger three times before did not today. I saw him. Saw him turning. And it seemed like he made a conscious decision not to gesture. For whatever reason he made a different choice today: thank you.

My second big thank you is to the person in a parking lot in the morning out and about in Columbia. I had dropped by scarf. As I came back to my car, I saw the scarf hanging on a tree. What a gift to look up and see the scarf. Someone took a chance that the owner would be back and was so kind as to keep the white scarf from tire mark ruin. Do you think the scarf is waving?