Observations

I love, love, LOVE to people watch. It is one of my favorite past-times. I could sit for hours just watching people, as long as I had some yummy coffees and music to keep me company (ok, hours might be pushing it...but I could go for a long time for sure!). It's just fascinating to me to watch everyone go about their business, doing whatever it is they do. Everyone's got a story to tell, everyone's got somewhere they have to be, someone they need to see. When I was younger, I would read Harriet the Spy over and over. She is possible the best (albeit strangest) people watcher there is. No, I don't climb into people's dumbwaiters to spy on them, but when I find myself in a place where there are more than a handful of people, I can't help but watch them and wonder what's going on in their little lives. Yesterday, I found myself in one such situation. I took the train up from Bloomington with my roommate on Wednesday and yesterday took the Metra into Waukegan. I was supposed to take the 8:35 train, but somehow ended up at the train station a few minutes too late. So it was off to the food court to sit, watch, and wait for the 10:35. Can't say that I minded too much. :) I took the liberty of writing down my observations. Disclaimer: I have made up the stories about these people. I have no real idea what it is they were doing or saying. Nonetheless, enjoy!

Train Stations. Oh how I love people watching in train stations. Or anywhere for that matter. So many people, all going somewhere. Focused on their own individualistic goals. Bustling about. Doing whatever it is they do. Everyone's got a story to tell. The girl immediately across from me is probably my age. Cute head band, black pea coat, leggings (what is the deal with just wearing leggings? Put some pants on!). Vera Bradley type of duffle bag. She's traveling home maybe. Like me. (I wish I was traveling with just a Vera Bradley duffle and a backpack. I look like a nomad. Or a homeless person. She must live close by. Doesn't need to bring everything...) She's studying something while she waits for her train. Maybe she's got one more final to take before she can head home to her family. Reading over pages and pages of carefully taken notes. Science maybe. My roommate is in the sciences. She takes lots of notes. Doesn't look like science type notes though. Maybe it's for a lit class. Or history. Probably history. She doesn't study long before she looks around, puts the notebook away, buttons up her pea coat and leaves. Maybe she had enough studying. Just go take the final. Who studies anyways?! Regardless, she is gone. Off to do whatever it is she set out to do.

Cute old couple at my 1 o'clock. Purple hat and coat. For her. He's in black. She carefully gets comfortable while her husband fetches some coffee. I think she might be blind. Maybe they've got a bit before their train arrives. Like me. Maybe we're on the same train. Husband returns with Dunkin' Donuts. Good call.

Woman pacing while talking on the phone. Nicely dressed; business casual. Perhaps she's just realized she's going to be late for a meeting. Perhaps she just remembered she's going to a Christmas party tonight and forgot to get a White Elephant gift and is rushing to call her husband to find something before they have to go. Perhaps she just likes to walk while she talks. Perhaps I'll never know...

Kid in front of me looks like Harry Potter. When he was young. Not now. I think he's on a school trip or something. There's a whole bunch of kids and a few adults anxiously herding them around. He's (Harry Potter looking kid) talking of magic, Star Wars and computers. But now he's sitting by himself. He should sit by the girl reading the book about dragons. At least I think it's about dragons...

Gentleman to my 3 o'clock. Young-ish. Not sure why he got to the train station as early as he did. Trying to make small talk with his table sharer. Father-in-law perhaps? It seems awkward. Like he'd rather not be sitting in the train station with his father-in-law-to-be (no ring on his finger. Not his father-in-law yet.), but his fiancee insisted that they go to pick up her brother Steve who's coming home from college. She insisted that they go together. You know, to get to know each other better. Steve's been delayed and Mr. Fiancee can't believe he's agreed to come along. There's got to be something else going on, a game on tv or something. Father-in-law-to-be doesn't believe Mr. Fiancee's job choice is ideal for someone who's going to marry his daughter, so he (Father-in-law-to-be) questions him (Mr. Fiancee) on his ten year plan and how he (Mr. Fiancee) plans to provide for a family. Mr. Fiancee isn't sure he wants to have a family anymore...

Alas. It is time to catch my train. It is true that I shall never know what was really going on in these people's lives. Such is the life of a people watcher, I suppose.