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Thoughts For Thursday: Watching Everyday Life

September 16, 2010 · 9 comments

in Thoughts For Thursday

It was a Saturday night, and the weather was gorgeous.  The air was just starting to cool off, and the stars were shining.  It was the perfect night to be out and about.

I ran to the book store early in the evening, as I cannot resist spending money on books.  (This was a PSAT study guide though, so it wasn’t anything very interesting, at least not for me.)  I paid for my purchases and was walking to my car when I saw an elderly couple that was parked in the handicap spot.  The man had one of the scooters you see advertised on tv, and was trying to use the lift on the conversion van.  The woman was carrying bags of books that I assume were bought at the used part of the book store, but who knows.

As I passed by, I glanced at the van as I walked.  This van looked like a family of 6 lived in it.  There were books covering the dashboard, and you could not see out any of the windows because there was clothes and ‘stuff’ covering every spare inch.  As a matter of fact, I have no idea how that scooter fit in the van.

The whole drive home I thought about this van.  Was this couple hoarders, or did they live in their van?  If they lived in the van, I don’t know why they would spend money at a bookstore, unless they were buying used books to re-sell.  I was oddly curious, and I really wished I could have just bought them a cup a coffee and ask them about their life.  Whatever their circumstances, I felt bad for this couple.  They obviously had health issues, and their surroundings were in such disarray, it seemed like it would be downright depressing.

What I saw at the end of my drive home lifted my spirits.  Near the end of my street I saw a crowd of people sitting in a driveway, facing into the garage.  I wondered what they were looking at and I realized a screen was hanging down and the movie ‘Blades of Glory’ was being projected onto the screen.  This house had converted their garage into a drive-in movie!  People were sitting there, drinking beer, and having a great time.  I wanted to run home, grab a chair, and go plant myself in their driveway.  I thought that was the neatest idea!

So, I know there wasn’t really much purpose to this post, other than to just share some slices of life.  Please feel free to leave a comment if there is a sight you have seen recently that just struck you as interesting.

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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Nicole September 16, 2010 at 11:30 am

It’s been too hot to get out much these days, so not much observation of interest. Unless you count daycare– this morning we saw a kid accidentally trike into another kid on the tricycle. He got off and started patting her to try to comfort her as she cried (and the teachers ran over). I think it’s very cute when the preschoolers act like grown-ups. They’re such good kids.

Back when we were RAs in graduate school, our students would project movies and video games on the building next door. That was pretty cool.

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Kris September 16, 2010 at 1:09 pm

I love watching little kids. Well, little kids that are nice. (Or growling 🙂 )

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Lola September 16, 2010 at 11:31 am

Last month, the hubs and I were traveling home from visiting a kid, and we stopped at a McDonald’s at about 2 PM to use the restroom and get something to drink. There was a glazed-eyed teen working the counter, with a fairly patient customer explaining what was wrong with the order the kid had just set out. There was another McD employee mopping furiously over by the drive through window, and a couple more teens stepping around to get fries, get to the drive through window, etc. In the meantime, also behind the counter, there was an elderly man in your standard sleveless undershirt & cut off shorts with a “Git ‘er Done” hat on. He was casually hunting around for the cups & lids and then dispensed a couple of smoothies out of the machine and then brought them over to a table where an elderly woman was sitting with a big box of tomatoes. None of the McD employees said anything about this or even seemed to notice, so I was wondering if Git ‘er Done worked there and was on his day off, or if they were so short-handed, the McD staff thought, oh just go ahead and get what you want.

Whatever the case, I had to admire that the guy was living by the motto on his hat!

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Kris September 16, 2010 at 1:11 pm

I love Git ‘er Done! Of course, I would be creeped out getting my food from a guy in a wife-beat shirt. But, I really like that he took control of the situation!

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Carol@live.com September 16, 2010 at 12:13 pm

Love the stories. Wish you had a camera so they could be part of the photo-op for the history chronicles. The drive-in idea sounds really fun but without the car it would be much harder for necking. (That’s probably a good thing.) 🙂

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Kris September 16, 2010 at 1:11 pm

Maybe they could have set up tents? 🙂

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Nicole September 16, 2010 at 4:26 pm

Ow, you made me snort my drink.

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Money Reasons September 16, 2010 at 9:53 pm

I’m like that too (or use to be when I was younger, but not so much anymore), I think I’ve very emphathetic for a guy. I think I can get a small taste of a person’s life just by being in the house with them or being a fly on the wall as they go about their business. Sometimes it just sad…

On a lighter note, I so want to do that drive-in on the garage door projection idea someday!

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Budgeting in the Fun Stuff September 17, 2010 at 7:36 pm

I haven’t seen anything interesting lately, but I am loving the drive-in idea! 🙂

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