I love to people watch. After three days of barely leaving the house, I was thrilled to go "out" today. Just me. You know that winter blahs have hit when it's exciting to go to Target. Running into a good friend and chatting at Target makes it extra special.
Today was my day to be artsy-fartsy as my dear husband called it. I packed up my laptop and planned to settle in with a cup of soup, my new buddy, and get a few projects done for the hospitality committee and girl scouts. Anyone have a great idea for Teacher Appreciation week? I still need a theme!
In my little corner at Panera, I've noticed a few things about people and myself....
Some people talk really loud. Loud enough that you wonder if maybe they are so congested they can't hear themselves. Maybe they have hard of hearing family members.
Spouses having lunch together rarely talk. Sure they share the same booth, but at least three "couples" I observed looked at their phones, talked on said phones, and one lady even pulled out her Nook to read. Why even have lunch together.
Having a laptop is like a security blanket. No one thinks its weird that you are sitting all by yourself eating lunch as you must be so busy "working" on the computer.
It's funny how Panera has become the "new" main street coffee shop. I've noticed that the wait staff even calls some people by name so they must be regular customers. When I use to travel for politics, I loved going to the small coffee shop early in the morning and seeing all the farmers sitting around just "chewing the fat" as they call it.
Guess as connected as we are all to the world around us, sometimes we still need that personal connection. We still need to talk and laugh and just hang out with each other.
Speaking of chatting, it's almost time for me to head home and catch up with my favorite 5th grader. Her brother has jazz band so she's all mine after school today. Fresh brownies and a glass of milk and I'm sure she'll be chatting away.
Who needs to go to Panera to connect, I can do it right at my kitchen counter.
Though sometimes it's nice to just get away from the house and see the world.
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