Kiss on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis halted traffic; nomad returned to the road

In a Modern Love essay, Marya Hornbacher recounts that a prolonged kiss in the center of Washington Avenue, a major Minneapolis thoroughfare, stopped traffic as drivers slowly steered around the two of them.

Hornbacher says the kiss had been building during a professional retreat where they had spent almost every waking hour together; he was a collegial friend she did not know well. She writes that she is a full-time nomad who lives in a 16-foot camper, does not date, limits her possessions and keeps lovers "scattered like pins in the map."

More than 12 hours after the kiss, at 4 a.m., she zipped up his hoodie, left the hotel and headed east. As the sun came up her phone dinged with a black-and-white photograph and the word "love," which she says she tossed into the back of her truck.

Hornbacher reflects that such moments repeatedly caught her off guard and posed a threat to the solitary life she chose after her last partnership ended in 2020; the essay leaves open whether the kiss will lead to anything further.

Key Topics

Culture, Marya Hornbacher, Washington Avenue, Minneapolis, Nomad Lifestyle