Aside from the fact that “awkward” is an awkward word, I was confronted today by an awkwardness that occurs far too often. I took my daughter to an indoor play space where usually she is able to see some of her friends, but today there were only a few kids there and she didn’t know any of them. The strange awkwardness I felt was I as followed her around the room (at her request) I walked by the other parent’s and kids and though we acknowledged each other’s presence it was like some barrier prevented us from actually talking to each other. I am not an extravert, though I often play one in my life, so I will own some responsibility for the awkwardness, but introvert or not once I actually pondered the situation I couldn’t help but feel silly. How often do we find ourselves in situations like this? The kids didn’t seem to notice though they kind of ignored each other too it wasn’t so obvious and there were no pretensions, they were just too busy doing their own thing. It’s funny to me because I find myself willing to talk to strangers in situations where I have more reasons not too, but here I was in a group that shares an affinity- we have kids in the same age group and we are living on an island together where I am fairly well known and it took me nearly twenty minutes to say hello and introduce myself. I am not sure why, perhaps it would be a good study to attempt to explain awkwardness, but I also have a feeling that it’s awkward because there is no reason for it. I did eventually speak up and start a conversation, but it couldn’t erase the vestiges of the barrier that like a cloud still separated us.