Brief encounters.

Paying attention to signs and symptoms helped make work today a lot better than yesterday. So did putting on music, and remembering to make tea. I wasn't even all that bothered by the catcalls I got afterward.

For context, I work at a synagogue, which is probably why the two guys hanging out by the front door said, "Hey, sister" to me as I left. I'd already been walking fast, long coat on over everything, head down and staring at the ground while thinking intently about something, and they still thought to call out to me in that laughing, joking voice men tend to adopt for catcalls. So I did the only thing I could do: keep on staring at the ground and walk faster.

I didn't turn around and look back, so I don't know what faces they made when they called out a couple more times to get a response - "Shalom! Hey, sister!" I can only hope they were good ones, since I knew there wasn't any way I could dignify them with a response, which would've included turning around to look at them. It's a human impulse to look back, and all the stories still warn about it just the same.

Maybe the take-away lesson is that some fairy tales have lessons worth listening to.