People Watcher

I am a people watcher. I believe everyone has a story to tell, but since I don't always get a chance to hear it, I often invent my own. Before Mike and I had kids we would sometimes just sit in the food court at the mall observing the passing crowds and making guesses about their lives (now when we go to the mall we bribe our children with the promise of stopping at the germ invested indoor play toys at the end and rush through two or three stores leaving a trail of fish crackers and raisins behind us).

Although I don't often get the chance to simply sit and observe anymore, I still enjoy watching people. From our front window I have a good view of a well traveled street in our neighborhood. There are always people walking, jogging, biking on it. We also go on frequent walks and runs, so I recognize a lot of the regular walkers by face.

I have seen one man, in particular, walking for over three years. He always wears the same blue windbreaker soccer jacket and he has grey hair and glasses. He used to push a single stroller with a little girl in it. Sometimes on the weekends I would see him walking with his wife. Then the wife was pregnant. One day when Kiwi was just tiny we were at the park and they were there with a baby carrier also. After that he was always walking with a sit and stand stroller with the little girl in the back and a baby carrier in the front. Eventually the baby carrier was replaced with a baby sitting up. I have seen him at the store with the stroller, the park with the stroller, and in the sun and the rain walking with the stroller. Always walking. Except for when he is running (still with the stroller). This is amazing to me because I have the same stroller. It weighs about 100 pounds and does this scary shaky thing when I run with it that makes me feel as if the wheels are going to pop off any minute.

The other day while walking Little Man to pre-school we happened to be crossing at the same intersection as this man and his two children. Although I had seen them from a distance many times, we had never directly crossed paths before. I found myself feeling as if I was going o see an old friend. As we passed I gave an enthusiastic and friendly hi and actually unconsciously slowed the stroller down to chat for a minute.

He gave a polite, but very less then enthusiastic hi and continued briskly across the street. And it may have been my imagination, but it seemed as if he may have slightly veered away from the crazy overly friendly waving woman.

This world of blogging has opened up a whole new dimension to people watching. I don't have to make up stories about peoples lives, they are right there to read. I admit that I have read blogs of people that I don't even know before. The other day I was introduced to somebody at my brother's track meet. It just so happened that this woman had a blog who was linked to my friend's. One day I had read it. I thought her kids had cute names and the names stuck with me. As we were were introduced and she gave me a friendly smile and hello and that was that. I found myself surprised that we weren't going to talk more. And then I remembered that I don't really know her and she doesn't now me. I bit my tongue from blurting out her children's names and asking about them. I really didn't need a repeat of Mr. Blue Windbreaker man.