waldosia– n. a condition in which you keep scanning faces in a crowd looking for a specific person who would have no reason to be there, as if your brain is checking to see whether they’re still in your life, subconsciously patting its emotional pockets before it leaves for the day.
This is an interesting word to me, and I find myself in waldosia at volleyball tournaments looking for past players. I think it’s a shadow of a desire to see a player I’ve coached in the past and hoping they had made time to come.
This happened recently as I was up in Greeley, CO at a tournament. I have a few former players at CSU, which isn’t far. I somehow hoped I’d see a former player, but they would have no reason to leave college and come, especially early on a weekend morning.
I probably have waldosia at SQL Saturday and other events, sometimes looking (hoping) for a friend that might pop by the event, even if I know they might have moved on in their career.
From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows