Laughs and screams are overtaking all my senses. Kids are running all over the place. I would have never thought to end up here when I left Tainan this morning.

But then I met Bill and, with him, Kaohsiung, the southernmost city of this Taiwanese leg. The moment I give him a hug, all the noise in my head disappears. I don’t know you, but I’m a person that pours energy when I’m around people I know. But meeting a “stranger”? I’d rather lose a finger than deal with that.

It’s a weird feeling (childhood trauma speaking here), a kind of pressure to be accepted and be the one to entertain a conversation. Just thinking of reaching out to a stranger to meet depletes all my energies. But, luckily, most of the time I just ignore it and move on because, by what I experienced so far, most people are nice. And, if you put passion for street photography in the mix, things get about as smooth as it gets.

A smile appears on my face. Kids’ energy is so contagious. I stand there, ecstatic, watching it all. Their carefree way of being in the world, their excitement to play with each other. Even a small water pond morphs into the biggest of the adventures. Something knocks inside my chest, it’s that little Mattia that I sometimes neglect. Even if I believe you can be a perfectly functioning adult with a child heart and naivety, everything around me screams it’s not true. And those screams had slowly put that little cheeky monkey in the shadow.

But now this version of myself is here, waving at me with his hand. With a big smile on his face, happy to meet me again. As I’m happy to have met Bill today.

Renewed by this energy, I just float around this park with the camera in my hand and that cheeky smile on my face.

Till the next missive,

— M

PS. If you didn’t click on the links above, go and check Bill’s work because you deserve to see it.