Source: Reddit
I went to a small public park yesterday. It was my first time there, and I was alone. I was walking by a pond, looking at waterlilies. I saw a middle-aged man and his daughter sitting on a bench together on the path ahead of me. To give them space, I went off of the path and found a different spot to hang at.
The man stood up and started walking in my direction. I thought he was going behind me in the direction of the parking lot, but he approached me and sat on a bench next to where I was standing. “What’s a girl like you doing by yourself on such a beautiful day like this? Why don’t you come over here and sit with me? I’m just an old 51-year-old man and that’s my daughter over there, it’s okay.” I declined and tried to make a polite joke about social distancing, stating that I was just checking the place out and was planning to bring my (nonexistent) husband next time.
He returned the topic to “But you didn’t answer my question of why you’re by yourself right now.” He kept asking me the same question in different variations. I encouraged him to go back to spending time with his daughter, and I decided to start walking towards her on the path to herd this guy back over to her. It sort of worked – he sat down with his daughter again, but then encouraged me to sit on this tiny bench in a space IN BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM lol. I kept declining, and his daughter ultimately stated “Dad, she doesn’t want to sit with you. Stop.”
The daughter looked so awkward and uncomfortable. I left. I wished that I could have apologized to her.
I’ve been wanting to plan more solo adventures once things are less risky travel-wise – going to national parks, hiking, etc. It just feels really disheartening when I can’t even feel safe and have to look over my shoulder to make sure that someone isn’t following me to my car, especially when I’m in a public park with people that are there. with. their. own. children.
