People on the Parkway and Elsewhere (updated continuously)

People I’ve seen on the Ben Franklin Parkway walking to and from work (updated as frequently as called for):

• A woman riding a bike with rubber bands around the ankle of her pants (It was a terribly windy day. I consider her innovative).

• An older gentleman valet at a fancy hotel waving and saying “Good morning!” to all the commuters scurrying by everyday (This makes me think my day won’t be—can’t be—all bad).

• A man in a black sweatshirt and new sneakers sitting on a bench with another man clad in a quilt with a long gray beard (One was homeless, one had new sneakers, but in that moment, the best adjective I could find to describe both was human).

• A man wearing the same cologne as an ex-boyfriend.

• Ash Wednesday: Woman in her early 60s (?), standing across the street from the Basilica, ashes smeared across forehead, 7-Eleven soda cup in one hand, cigarette dangling in her other (I found the connection (or lack there of) between the ashes on her forehead and dropping from the end of her cigarette to scratch a funny itch in my mind).

• A man in a fedora.

• Two children in Love Park blowing bubbles (I walked through a cloud of these spheres of pure joy after a particularly tough day and smiled).

• Is that a coworker? (Yes. Confirmed when he entered the same office as me).

• “God gave us what he wanted us to have.” —man exiting City Hall subway station

• Man running up art museum steps, toddler in his arms, recreating the iconic Rocky scene that all are required by law to do at least once while in the city.

• Logan Square. Newly planted hyacinth are all around. A cloud of the Easter scent hangs above us. I see a man look at them and smile. We keep walking.

• A man with a welding mask (also known as a welder) on the Broad Street Line.