My dad taught me to people watch when I was a kid. We would make up stories about the lives of those around us. We would analyze what we did know and draw conclusions (some happy, some sad). This was something we did as a part of of his routine travel schedule when we took him or picked him up from the airport.
When you travel for a work the airport becomes a means to an end. A way to move you from you from Location A to Location B. I think this is why my dad made such a big deal of making it an adventure for him and I.
Last week I decided to stop and watch at the airport. Not just to rush to my next required meeting. This as a part of my goal to enjoy the moment.
What did I see. I saw joy (Grandpa seeing his two grandsons and then kissing his daughter gently on the head), I saw pride (son dressed in fatigues, mom beaming as son points to her with a nervous laughter saying hey), I saw work ethic (chauffeur holding sign waiting for Mr. Thomas), I saw pain (the girl walking through the airport crying--would love to know her story) and I saw love (lots of it). If you want a renewed faith in mankind. Stop and enjoy the moment and the people around you. All with their own story, unique and beautiful.
All that from people watching.
4 comments:
I love people-watching. I will be at the airport on the 17th and the 23rd. Observing others is sometimes fascinating.
The airport is one of my very favorite places. I used to say that no other place brought me as much joy and as much sadness as the airport did.
Going to the airport when I was going to see John while we were still long distance was always my very favorite time. But leaving at the end of the weekend to go back to work was also my saddest.
The airport is a happy time now for me when I go home to see the kids and also a sad time when I have to leave them.
The airport also has a certain amount of pain associated with it. The last few funerals I've had to fly to became a time for much introspection. Time to reflect on the person who passed, time to reflect on myself and the way I live my life, time to reflect on the people I love around me.
When I went to New Hampshire I had 8 hours of that time on the way there ( I'm sure any people watchers at the airports I was going through were thinking the same thing about me that you were thinking about the girl crying through the terminal-- "what's her story?")
But on the way home I took advantage of the time to finish The Four Agreeements and came to the chapter of prayers. How blessed I felt to have the oppurtunity to read these prayers with nothing else to distract me. My tears told a much different story when I was reading than when I was on my way to the funeral.
The airport is an amazing place. It was so much a part of my relationship with John that I was engaged in the Tulsa airport. After the flight was cancelled to Oklahoma City I called John and asked if Tulsa was close and if he could pick me up there. He replied "close enough". Imagine the joy and love that the people who were watching us got from that experience.
Your post touched me and your observations were poignant.
Alice
WOW....excellent topic J. I too love people watching not only at the airport but we used love watching people in amusement parks, zoo (sometimes they act worse then the animals. Its amazing the stories my dad told me based on what people wore, eat or how they walked… yes I believed them all.
It reminds me of the movie big fish!
After reading Alice's comment I think she should start a blog :)
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