Visiting!
In my books I have humans and dragons who practice the art of visiting. It is a skill, something humans have done for thousands of years, but recently it has gone out of fashion. I am not sure if technology has disrupted the practice or if people are finding other ways to communicate and socialize but visiting is practiced less and less among most people.
To make sure there is no confusion, visiting is when someone enters someone else’s home. Tea, coffee, or some other beverage is offered as well as some form of snack food. You sit, talk, exchange information and ideas. It is intimate, personal, and can include many people or be private. My family engages in visiting, as do many of our friends.
In the NewEarth Series, there are different forms of visiting. The dragons visit one another in different territories, but offer no food or drink. Humans visit and Hanna of course elevated the standard of offering food and drink in her home. There is visiting in the market where food and drink are purchased.
How often do you visit? Who do you visit? Is it a custom or practice in your daily life?
I grew up with an “open door” policy. Visitors came early and often! And my mother and I returned the favor. Of course, we knew our neighbors.
In Chicago and now Glenview, where I know very few of my neighbors at all, I do not visit and no one visits us. And now (one of the perils of old age),
many of my former friends have either died or moved to be near their children or to retirement communities. So it’s quite lonely! I love visiting and really
do miss it!