People watching and pondering

People watching and pondering

The other night, after a full day in the confines of these four walls, with a toddler that is three going on thirteen, I decided I needed an hour, just one, of alone time.

My escape of choice: Starbucks.

There was some pretty remarkable people watching like that guy who is at an 8 and we need him at about a 2, discussing Tiger Woods’ infidelity and some 42-year-old man dying from…who knows what. I gradually tuned him out and transitioned my eave’s dropping attention to the two teens who were meeting there on a date, no less. They ordered their beverages and proceeded to chat about roommates and what classes they’ll be taking this semester. Boring, let’s move on. There were the two skater boys who stopped in to get some vanilla bean fraps because as long as you have a Starbuck’s cup…

The kicker was the older couple who sat down at the table beside me. Waiting on their adult daughter to meet them after “working out”. I’m not so sure someone should smell so strongly of perfume or have so much make up NOT melting off of their face after lifting some weights. She makes a call and proceeds to ask the person on the other end of the line if they are coming and, in the same breath, whether or not they are drunk. Yup, turns out mommy dearest doesn’t trust her daughter that much. It was this whole scenario that got me to pondering.

There I was, sitting in a coffee shop on a Tuesday night, not minding my own business while simultaneously getting client work done. All of these different lives, worlds even, are happening all around me. It got me to thinking how remarkable it is that we can all exist in this one space yet walk on completely different paths. Sure we most likely have some similarities, good or bad, to that person sitting next to us in Starbuck’s, but for the most part, we mind our business and tend to our lives as we see fit. Sometimes it takes a lot out of me to not covet the lives I see around me, that do exist in my world. To want to walk on their path instead of mine because “the grass is greener.” They don’t have this problem, or that problem, or whatever the case may be. It’s something different. It seems that there’s always a want for something different even, and especially, if different is the complete opposite of what it is that you possess. I wish there were an a la carte line in life where we were free to choose the platter we’d like to hold on outstretched hands. I know that just isn’t the way things roll, but damn, wouldn’t that be dandy?

There really isn’t a point to this post, I suppose, beyond the fact that just a change of scenery after a long day can make a world (no pun intended) of difference in the way you see things.