Tonight I decided it was time to go to a photography meetup group activity here in town.

The timing seemed right because I had been a “member” of this particular group for over a year, which involved me watching posts about member events on the meetup site for a year and never attending anything.

It was a good experience. I was a passive observer for the first half of a group dinner at The Range off of Menaul and University. I listened to a few folks around me talk about recent outings.

We then ended up covering the state of Minnesota, and then South Dakota, and then Omaha, Nebraska.

One older woman was the former spouse of a clinic physician, now divorced, and relocated to New Mexico seven years ago.

One young guy grew up in South Dakota and today works here in town at the zoo, and shared a photo of a tarantula he took this afternoon while driving on the West Mesa.

Another older woman sitting by me disclosed an Ancestry.com test recently informed her that her dad was not actually her real dad. She grew up pumped full of Irish heritage and history and hysteria, and she learned through the test last month she was mostly Norwegian and Swedish. I was shocked she was less shocked than she seemed. She even had went to Ireland a few times to be close to her heritage. Yikes.

I and her broke off into a photography discussion, and she was warm and helpful as we talked about the Festival of the Cranes and upcoming Bosque events that are ideal for taking photos. The meal of green chile chicken blue corn enchiladas didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the get together at any level either.

The high point of the evening for me, though, (and probably not a big deal to many folks) was meeting Eric outside of the restaurant before dinner, a thin twenty-seven year old kid with a full head of brunette hair and piercing green eyes, and then later, after dinner, engaging a twenty-something woman, Renee, who was another thin person sitting outside the restaurant with nowhere to go. Two homeless people. They were both sober and not panhandling, but just sitting in the shade by the diner resting. I said hello, and they let me hear their brief stories about recent life. Renee had had a dog that comforted her and kept her company while moving about town, but it recently was taken by someone from her. She had had it for 8 years. Eric was not grumbling or angry about his life- he just said he was hoping to find his next opportunity soon. That things had been hard and that he hoped someone would help him find something he can do for work to get some grounding in his life. I felt sad for them. Being due for appointments at each rendezvous, I apologized for having no cash, but I thanked them each for talking with me. They were glad to just talk. I offered them encouraging words and each a hug, which they both accepted.

I left the restaurant with my eyes welling up a bit with warm saline.

I have to think for most of us, any kindnesses received in life from others give the heart some strengthening.