Watchful

Low key day yesterday although a Friday can never be underestimated; see yesterday’s post for an in depth explanation.  There were only two of us at First Friday since my excellent boss took the end of the week off.  The operations manager and I managed to keep the tradition alive although he had to depart fairly early for a semi-hot date.  I was charged with hanging around in case some other employees showed up since I’d made a big deal about it earlier in the day (go figure).  I spent the last half hour and beer just people watching out the large window.

View From my Perch

Shrewsbury Street is one of the main thoroughfares of Worcester and it was interesting to watch the Worcesterites dashing towards their Friday afternoon destinations, usually with cell phone in hand whether they were walking or driving.  People watching is one of my favorite pastimes, always has been.  It used to get me in trouble in my younger days because people thought I was staring at them (granted a lot of them were of the female persuasion).  But’s it’s always been more than that, I think people are fascinating and the endless variety offered is astounding.  Everybody has a story.

There was a small American flag flying atop a post outside of my people watching perch which caused some reflection as well.  The flag meant so much to me over the years when I lived or served in other countries.  I still take a sneaky little bit of pride and affection whenever I see an American flag flying. I thought how lucky I was to live in a place where freedom allows the breadth of the human spirit to be explored.  Unaccompanied consumption of Coors Lite can lead to maudlin introspection.

I then sought out the sure cure for loneliness, the spousal unit.  My wife can fill up a room with energy which belies her small stature.  She was dressed to the nines when I arrived home having blown off her yoga class since she was in a deep texting session with the PanaGals. She was feeling a little under the weather (autumnal allergies) which she felt might prevent her from tonight’s planned dancing.  This led to a deluge of texts flying between here and Panama where this decision and a deluge of other subjects were debated and opined upon.  She was laughing so hard at some of the texts that I knew they’d wandered into ribald territory (it’s how they roll).

Wife and I at Zorbas Last Night

I invariably become the target of the PanaGals who propose courses of action that my wife takes an immense amount of humor and perverse interest in.  The texting continued to Zorba’s where the ladies of Zorba’s were at the top of their game.  I finally had to seize control of my wife’s cell phone (something we always threaten “the kids” with) in order to have a conversation with her.  She really is my favorite person to watch.