1. At the roller-skating rink far in the suburbs, a middle-aged man is skating alone among the families, tweens and teens. He's balding with a long, thin ponytail and a t-shirt tucked into purple-washed Guess jeans. (They still make those?) He skates fancy moves around the rink - spinning and turning and gliding backwards.
2. At the art museum downtown, an elderly women has a friend take a photo of her in front of a painting. A security guard rushes over and tells them to turn off the flash. The elderly woman's face is caked heavily with make-up. She's dressed in a fancy hat, skirt and blouse. She struggles to walk, shuffling herself along behind a wheelchair wearing very high-heeled pumps.
3. At school, a little boy called me "old lady," and a middle-schooler called me "granny."
4. I don't think I look like a granny. But what does a granny look like anyway?
5. I'll gladly slip on a pair of roller-skates and glide around the rink. But I won't be returning to the
fashions of the 1980s or to the awkwardness of my adolescence. I already suffered through those fashions and that age. Once was enough.
6. I hope I'll be appreciating art at the museum thirty or more years from now, maybe shuffling along with a walker or wheelchair. I definitely won't be wearing make-up or high heels, because I don't even wear them now. I'm far too lazy and fond of comfort for all of that.
7. I am glad to be forty-eight years old and alive in this very interesting world full of very interesting people.
Ha! No one has called me granny recently.
ReplyDelete1) At work, all the women with gray hair (me included) are told we "look alike."
2) On a work day, I took off and joined Cole for a class trip. Another visitor at the State Park struck up conversation with me. Turned out she was a retired first grade teacher, probably about 20-30 years older than myself. She asked me if I was also retired!!
3) There is no end of people watching in my very interesting city and neighborhood. Yesterday I was driving through the castro. There was a person in drag trying to make it across the street in very high heels and very tight clothes and very few clothes. I was not the only one making note of the situation.
4) I like to think of myself as observant. It is part of my job as an interventionist to closely watch a readers behaviors and note which behaviors are helpful and need to be reinforced and which behaviors need to be interrupted before they become habits. I wish I could use this technique on the world at large sometimes. Though, it is clear that there would be widespread disagreement on which behaviors are helpful. :-)
PS. Kacie tried on my old roller blades the other day. Oh nostalgia! Not even as old as the roller skates but still takes me back.....
Yes, there are lots of people-watching opportunities in SF! I wasn't there long enough to take full advantage...but I'll be back. :) You are an observant person, Lori. I'm sure it helps a lot in your work, and I also think it makes life richer. I'd even say there can be some overlap between the qualities of observation and mindfulness, or maybe more accurately that mindfulness is being more observant of the present moment.
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