When you are really invested, you worry

I watched a couple of guys help each other today. One of them wanted to test out a dory by paddling it around the harbor before selling it. The other didn't want anything to do with the water on such a nice day.

I only began to take notice when the other pulled up to the local dock hurriedly, backing in to a double-spot closest to the water. Since we share a share a small neighborhood with him, I said hi and asked how his Thanksgiving was going. He told me fine and what his other was doing and how long it would take him to appear in the cove.

In previous years, I might have lauded how awesome it was that his elderly friend was rowing around in open water, but today I quickly and carefully responded by saying "oh" and asking him "how do you feel about that"? He sort of muttered quietly first and then said loudly "oh, it's fine, he does things like this all the time", and wouldn't look me in the eye. After some chit-chat we moved off each other's company, and in about 10 minutes, his friend's two-person row boat peaked out from behind one of the lobster boats docked in the bay, with a guy in it, rowing slowly and steadily.

After navigating past the dock and to the rocks where the truck was parked, they carefully collected the small dory out of the water and navigated it up into the truck bed. The rower then proceeded to fasten the protruding boat to the truck with ropes and carabiners while the driver stood patiently out of the way enjoying the 50 degree holiday weather, free of anxiety and grateful for the salty harbor air.

When two people live together for the better part of their lives, like an odd couple mirroring the dynamics of other married couples, they develop a deep emotional connection to each other, the sweet bitterness of co-dependency. It is the bond formed between people who see more and more into each other, the wonders and the flaws, the longer they captivate each other's curiosity and souls.

The best part of it is, there are dozens of examples of this fine form of relationship in my neighborhood. Men devoted to each other, women who have known from their first meeting that they were meant to live life together, and every other kind of relationship you can think of too. Single moms. Single dads. Parents of young and old. Grandparents. Young parents. Parents twice and thrice over. Kids made of the most creative and kind things in the known cosmos. Couples, singles, veterans, retirees. Humanitarians. Artists. Engineers.

It takes all kinds. It takes these guys, to make a world. We're better for having them in it. They help us remember to follow the path of love back to each other.