Tuesday had a little bit of sun, and after a long day of work–I’m still working–I decided to get out for a run, so this post is about something I saw on my run that day. I headed out and east, no real destination. I ended up running down Gorsuch to say hi to where R. used to live. She moved away a few years ago, but Gorsuch will always remind me of her, our time in her backyard, admiring her cat, talking about bikes and queers and popcorn and art. I miss her, even though I still talk to her all the time. It was good to say hello.

I can do the distance friendship. I’ve moved around a lot, I’ve got a lot of practice leaving people I love and then trying to make them laugh on the internet. But these days I, like most of us, miss people in person. So this day I found myself running alone down a street I used to bike down, waving at a house instead of knocking on its door to see if my friend was home and able to come out and play.

Tuesday’s run felt so good. I was in a groove, no destination, running streets I don’t usually run. The streets were mostly empty of people, and of cars. I ran by a park, or what used to be a park–it’s not on any of the maps–and ran around it over to Kennedy Avenue where I paused just long enough to take this picture of these two stairs to nowhere. There used to be houses here, and I wonder who used to live here, who is missing them, what it feels like to live next door to these ghosts.

And then I remembered the stairs to nowhere on Baronne Street in New Orleans. They were taller, and there was still an iron railing attached to them. I wonder if they are still there, if anyone is missing who used to live in that house the way I miss the people I used to get to see there on my bike rides around town. Everyone is missing right now, even though we are right here.

And then I hit Loch Raven, took a right, and headed down the hill to 33rd, a left and back to Waverly, down Ellerslie, past 901 Arts, a turn here and there. I waited for the walk signal at Greenmount, stepping back quickly as another car ran another red light. All bets are off in the streets right now. Be careful out there. I was out for 45 minutes or so, and then back inside, staying put.