CAMDEN – You’re not supposed to call it ‘social distancing,’ anymore. You’re supposed to call it ‘physical distancing.’  The World Health Organization was afraid we were taking the humanity out of it. Do you think all those people you see walking around are locals? Think again.

I practiced a little physical distancing and tried to sharpen my social skills. Not that there were a lot of people to talk to, but I was a little more than surprised that about half of those I talked to were from out of town.

One of the more interesting people I encountered was Aaron Lincoln, who owns and operates the schooner Olad and cutter Owl, tied up at Camden Harbor during the summer months.

He said he had been on the phone with the bank.

“They are actually calling on the weekends about SBA loans,” he said. “My brain is just fried and I needed to walk around for a few minutes to clear my head.”

Lincoln has a family at home and isolated to help protect against the virus.

“Right now we’re doing all the building projects I’ve been promising as a father for the last 10 years.”

Lincoln said today’s homeschooling involved measuring and cutting things.

“It’s all the things I wish I could do with them all season long, but they are in school,” he said. “I have all this stuff in my brain box I wish I could share, but it doesn’t really work that way. It’s actually a lot of fun.”

Lincoln said he had no idea what to expect for the upcoming sailing season.

“There’s a real possibility they could close port to port travel,” he said. “They could shut down all the boats. I don’t think anybody knows anything right now, or what we can expect.”

Lincoln said he has thought about putting his boats in the water, but he has no idea what is coming. He said he’s on standby like the rest of us.

Cindy and Sadie Allen are Camden residents. They said they are doing OK.

“It’s good to be out on a nice day,” said Cindy. “I try to take the dog out every day, but it’s just been really dreary.”

Cindy is an attorney working in guardian ad litem. She said she is still busy and moving along.

Sadie said she attends Boston University, but is now at home and taking all her classes online.

“It’s a really big adjustment,” she said. “I’ve only cried a few times.”

Sadie studies computer engineering, so her goal is to make online learning easier.

Natalie Nightingale and Chris Wagner are from Portland. Nightingale was meeting her parents Jeff and Diana Gray from Bangor.

“I’m meeting my parents here to get some tires for my car,” said Nightingale. “Camden is sort of the halfway point.”

Nightingale and Wagner said they are coping and just taking it day by day.

The Gray’s said they are still both working as the companies that employ them are considered essential.

Jason Brewer is from South Bristol. He comes to Camden to catch elvers.

“It’s just too crowded to fish down where we live,” he said. We come up here to get away from the people.”

Brewer said it is a slow start for the season and the market outlook is uncertain right now for elvers.

“I think next week it will get better,” he said. “We’re getting by OK, mainly because of this. I was lobstering and that was horrible. At least this way, here, I can hopefully make enough to get by.”

Brewer’s daughter Autumn is nine years old. She like other students are homeschooling.

“I’m not very happy because I haven’t started yet,” she said. “We’re supposed to start this week and that will make me happy.”

Ariel Ott is from Massachusetts; Lyra Kalajian is a Camden resident. The two were walking along the public landing.

Ott said her sister was in Florence, Italy, and was quarantined at her house for two weeks upon her return, so she came to Camden a month ago to be with her cousin (Kalajian) and has been here ever since.

Both women said they are coping with the situation.

“We’re both introverts,” said Ott, “so it’s nice. We play a lot of games and we have a cat and that helps a little bit.”

The Haining family is from Newport, Maine. They didn’t want to give their names and said Haining was all they wanted to give up. They had come to Camden to hike Maiden’s Cliff.

“It wasn’t too bad,” said Mrs. Haining. “There were a lot of people, but everybody was staying a safe distance from each other.

One of their group had never been to Camden. She was an exchange student from Kazakhstan, a very interesting place it turns out.

She didn’t know when she would get to go home.

Jackson Bloch is from Waterville and coaches skiing at Colby College. At least he did coach skiing. He was hopeful that by next winter things would be back to normal.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he said.

He commented on remote learning.

“Remote learning is such a different experience,” he said. “You take students out of the learning environment, there’s no interaction. Then you remove sports from society and take people out of the workplace. You strip community and culture. Things are still functioning, but it changes the dynamics so much.”

I think there are lots of stories that can be told from six feet away. I think it’s important that people hear that people are coping and getting by.

Practice physical distancing, not social distancing. It’s how you keep humanity alive.