a woman fell down hard on the way out of the movie theater yesterday. she was embarrassed and in pain and crying. her daughter was beside herself "mom mom are you ok are you ok?!" we tried to get help but the response was slow to put it mildly. outside theater #8 there were 6 young people in red amc theater jerseys holding walkie talkies, looking confused and frozen and helpless. mouth breathers all of them with big wide eyes bursting with fear and we said "please get help, call 911, get a manager" but they all just stood there with their hand held communication devices poised in mid air, not doing anything.
damn kids! i grumbled (to myself). millenials -- can't think for themselves, no initiative, how rude but they don't know any better.
i was thinking about that at breakfast when a young woman only slightly older than the ticket takers caught my attention. she was having breakfast with her soon-to-be-family and could not have been kinder to the three little girls around her. she was enjoying them and talking about important things like how fun it was to have a whole year's supply worth of chewing gum, and which lip gloss did they want her to put on? they wiggled and cocked their little heads and gathered around this lovely woman with perfect pink skin, shiny blond hair, black velvet t shirt and stretch jeans. the girls were enchanted as they watched her apply it. makeup is so much fun when you aren't old enough to wear it yet.
she was so sure of herself in a gentle way. she described how she was going to wear her hair on her wedding day and they wondered if she would wear a crown. they bobbled and cooed and one of them handed her a baby doll which she began stroking and rocking without missing a beat or calling attention to it.
when i was 7 my big brother brought his fiance home. when i met her i was just like one of those little girls. my new big sister was glamorous and funny and oh those times sitting on the bed, watching her back comb her hair and line her eyes. she was my very own princess diana.
in remembering that i knew exactly what those girls were feeling. the rest of the family laughed and chatted and i loved the whole scene. there was something so precious about the way they were just being together. just being. these were good people.
i came very close to slipping them a scrap of paper with this blog address on it, asking them to check it out tomorrow, as i was planning to write about them and would they like to see it, but then thought how weird would that be. i might upset them.
then again maybe not. what would it be like to know that a stranger had taken a literal snapshot of you and your possey, just hanging out together on a saturday morning. kind of like when someone hands you a photo you didn't know was taken. you look at yourselves and remember that moment, just an ordinary moment, but realize how profound it is to see that it had been captured. you just being you. enjoying someone. listening, talking, smiling, paying attention. no one is posing or waiting for the flash, you are just being. and that photo you were just handed quickly becomes one of your favorite pictures of all time.
i think too much. i notice things to a level of detail that drives me crazy sometimes. but that's what i do. i get worked up over little things, and then put back in my place by other moments as they happen next to me.
whether or not any of them come across this blog,
one thing is for sure,
she will be a beautiful bride.
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