From the Editor’s Desk: Third Space (Premium)

You've perhaps heard of the importance of the so-called third space, that place that is neither work nor home, where you meet with other people. Even before I had a formal understanding of third space, I long understood the importance of such a thing, in part because my first and second spaces, work and home, are the same space. But it's recently become clear that one can–and maybe should–have multiple third spaces.

We certainly do.

I've worked for home for 30 years, and my wife has for almost 20 years, and so our third spaces in Pennsylvania are often a welcome break from what could otherwise turn into a great tedium. We both go to the gym, separately, and I have friends there I catch up with there regularly. This feels like a different kind of healthy.

We also have shared third spaces that we visit together. When we lived in an apartment in Macungie last year, we started walking over to a small local bar/restaurant, and it quickly escalated into a weekly get-together with a group of locals that, oddly enough, includes my brother-in-law and his wife, and we've gotten quite close after having known each other only in passing for several years. We moved away from there in late 2023, but we still visit with our friends there each week, eat dinner, and, when it's on, play trivia. It's become quite the extended family.

We also have a regular Friday night hangout, where we sit at (yet another) bar and know everyone. This place is fun for plenty of reasons, but we met some people there years ago who are now friends: The guy introduced himself as Q, which is a shortened form of a longer, hard-to-pronounce name. And so I looked over at his wife and said, "What's your name, R?" To which she replied, "No, I'm Kay." Which I of course heard as K. It's no wonder I like these people.

The need for a third space is particularly acute here in Mexico City, where my wife and I are jammed into a tiny 750 square foot apartment with little in the way of privacy or alone time most days. I'm reminded of our earliest trips to Ireland, when we learned that the Irish often treat the local pub as a shared living room, creating a sense of community with those around them. I also viewed the cafés of Paris similarly.

Here in Mexico City, everything is close, with no driving required. We're less than a 10-minute walk to dozens of favorite restaurants and bars, and we know many people within a few blocks of our apartment. Each day at lunch, we walk to an inexpensive local cocina or other small restaurant, and each night we similarly walk to another eatery, perhaps a bit nicer or further away. And in each case, I can almost literally feel those places and the people there imprinting on us, just as we do in many cases on them.

I had an interesting moment last week at a nearby bar we've glommed onto for its friendly people, terrific cocktails, and surprisingly delicious tacos. My wife and I were sitting at the bar, as always, and there were a few other...