Recently during DSR’s 10-year anniversary party a number of people shared their thoughts about how the group has impacted their life. A common thread woven through everyone’s stories was that our run club helped them feel welcomed and accepted right from the start, regardless of their running pace or whom they already knew in the group. DSR became a place where newcomers could make lasting friendships when knowing no one else in the city.

Over the last 10 years I’ve heard similar sentiments, but at this particular time in my life these words carried more impact. It reminded me of an idea my Dad put into my head, something I retold during his eulogy:

When I was little, and my parents and I would be out and about I noticed that they had an unusual habit of talking to strangers. Usually younger couples that were brown-skinned. After seeing this a few times and being puzzled I asked my Dad why they would talk to people they didn’t know. He explained that when my parents immigrated from India they knew no one here—no family, no friends, no support system. He told me how difficult and isolating his experience was and he didn’t want others to suffer that as well.  It was important to them to interact with these younger couples because those people may be feeling the burden of being separated from their families.

The idea that one person and a single interaction could change someone’s life was foreign to me. While I don’t make it a point to talk to young brown-skinned couples, it seems I internalized that concept and pushed it forward in my own way with DSR. 

Prior to this club I was never an integral part of any community, much of that involved personal issues with anxiety and my coming to terms with my own queerness. What started out as a group of people to run with during the week, blossomed into finding like-minded friends and we created a place where people like me can find honest community. A place where we can fit in, be normal, be trusted, and even be missed when absent. I know there are others like me in the world who are looking for that place they can feel comfortable—and it seems this what DSR has become.

The most special gift for me is knowing, without realizing it, that I carried forward a lesson that my Dad taught me long ago into this group that has clearly touched so many lives.