People-watching
People-watching. Not to be confused with watching people. Watching people is simply something you might do when you're sitting at the airport and have run out of reading material. People-watching, on the other hand, is a sport. A hobby. Even a way of life. I am a people-watcher. Just as you might be a golfer, a vegan or a scuba diver, I am a people-watcher.
Everybody has a story. I wonder all the time, what was the story that led this person to this moment? Happy places, sad places, dysfunctional places, dangerous places...people share their story with us in glimpses of their own realities. And I wonder about it all the time.
Sweet Hubs and I were stopped at the intersection, and Hubs motioned a pedestrian to go ahead and cross. The man was half way across the street when he did this kung-fu karate chop/kick move, swirled around a couple of times and started talking to himself. He continued on his way and left me wondering.
There was a lady in the grocery store. She was wearing a pair of jeans, which had been cut into 4" squares. Then the squares were pinned together with extra-large safety pins, leaving the 2" or so of skin showing between the squares. All the way around. My word. And I thought wicker chairs leave marks on bare skin? Wow.
I see a young couple standing outside a store. I can't hear what they are saying, but their body language is screaming. She is upset and he's frustrated that she is upset. What are they fighting about? It sure looks like they've been over this ground before, judging by his posture. There's a story there. I wonder what it is.
A family sat a nearby table in a quiet little restaurant. The teenage children picked on each other in a half-loving kind of way. Dad was being very important trying to schedule his life, his flight and he next several meetings. Mom, well-groomed and very trim, was hidden behind her smart phone and completely checked out of the group. I have some ideas about what the story was there.
A sweet couple in their late seventies sat at my desk this morning. The graceful, natural way they have of interrupting each other to finish the other's sentence, the tender way he helped her stand... there's a story there, too. A beautiful story of a life shared. There are moments when the best people-watching of all is up close.
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Everybody has a story. I wonder all the time, what was the story that led this person to this moment? Happy places, sad places, dysfunctional places, dangerous places...people share their story with us in glimpses of their own realities. And I wonder about it all the time.
Sweet Hubs and I were stopped at the intersection, and Hubs motioned a pedestrian to go ahead and cross. The man was half way across the street when he did this kung-fu karate chop/kick move, swirled around a couple of times and started talking to himself. He continued on his way and left me wondering.
There was a lady in the grocery store. She was wearing a pair of jeans, which had been cut into 4" squares. Then the squares were pinned together with extra-large safety pins, leaving the 2" or so of skin showing between the squares. All the way around. My word. And I thought wicker chairs leave marks on bare skin? Wow.
I see a young couple standing outside a store. I can't hear what they are saying, but their body language is screaming. She is upset and he's frustrated that she is upset. What are they fighting about? It sure looks like they've been over this ground before, judging by his posture. There's a story there. I wonder what it is.
A family sat a nearby table in a quiet little restaurant. The teenage children picked on each other in a half-loving kind of way. Dad was being very important trying to schedule his life, his flight and he next several meetings. Mom, well-groomed and very trim, was hidden behind her smart phone and completely checked out of the group. I have some ideas about what the story was there.
A sweet couple in their late seventies sat at my desk this morning. The graceful, natural way they have of interrupting each other to finish the other's sentence, the tender way he helped her stand... there's a story there, too. A beautiful story of a life shared. There are moments when the best people-watching of all is up close.
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I love this post! Sometimes I watch people, but I'm just no good at people-watching. I'm too easily distracted. You revealed just the right details to lead into these people's stories. Excellent!
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