Wednesday, June 29, 2011

People Watching

I'm sitting in the Miami Airport, half checking email and half people watching. People watching might be one of my favorite things to do and it's really next level when you're in an airport. There's something about a cross section of all walks of life crammed into a small space and forced to deal with the stresses of getting somewhere that really makes the whole process interesting. And it's really funny how quickly you see groups start to form. You've got the frazzled parents with the difficult/fussy kids, the executive business men with their tailored suits, the glammed out first classers, the teens/twenty somethings in some form of pajamas, the school and missionary groups, the frat boys/sorority girls who are already partying in the aiport.

What's unsettling/weird about this whole experience is I never see "me" when I'm traveling alone. I never go. Oh, there you are, there's another nomadic/responsibility avoiding/somewhat established but still figuring out his life/wanting just to see the world and keep moving kid. I know these are all things that would be hard to identify when just watching people, but I feel like I never go... oh yeah, that's totally me.

I'm not saying I'm unhappy with the phase of life I'm in. I really dig it, I honestly do, I just feel a little bit like a fish out of water sometimes. Like the place I'm in is just an uncommon place. When I think about this I don't feel sad or melancholy or aloof, I just feel ... distant. Like I'm standing outside of the entire thing looking in. I realize that there's not much about an airport that's all that different from the day to day of regular life, I'm just more aware of it.

All that to say I'm not saying that I want to find an inroad to one of those groups... get the high-paying job/the 2.5 kids/skew even younger than my age. I'm just wondering if I'm really in a place that is as unique as it feels or if people in that place are just hard to identify.

Wondering that's all.

1 comment:

Adam Heine said...

I'm willing to bet the frat boys and suited execs don't see themselves in any of the other people either.

Which is to say: you feel unique because (a) you don't know what's going on inside anyone but yourself and (b) you are and so are the frat boys.