Photos may be blurry - taken clandestinely on phone camera...
My layover in Memphis was about 1 1/2 hours. There's no way to get from Oklahoma City to Omaha without spending a little time in another airport. Normally I occupy this time with a book, magazine, iTouch movie, or some Facebook Scrabble, but today I was thoroughly entertained with people-watching.
This family was returning from Walt Disney World as indicated by the telltale shopping bags. Also, the nine-year old daughter had a baby Simba stuffed animal wrapped in a blankie that she held like a baby. This was the whitest white Omaha family ever. Mom was clad in Mommy Jeans, Dad in Levis and polo with a "World's Greatest Dad" baseball cap. The towheaded, freckled boy broke out the Star Wars playset and his sister joined in play, er, arguing. The Darth Vaders and Luke Skywalkers fought and the kids did too. I could hardly contain my laughter when the mom did the "whisper-yell" at the kids to keep it down. She nearly blew out the veins on her neck with the intensity. Truthfully, the kids were fine, but Mom was clearly obsessed with blending in.
There were at least 3 generations represented in this group, including a cane-using grandmother and a 4 year old with pierced, dangly earrings, a denim mini-skirt and strappy rainbow sandals. Adorable. They had a 7 course meal as they waited to board the plane. Rubbermaid containers popped open with soup. Bakery boxes came out of shopping bags for meat buns, and the kids held chicken parts and munched happily. Their crowd took an entire row of seats in the boarding area, and they seemed oblivious to their surroundings as they took on the lunchtime feast.
Maybe these groups interested me so much because I'm just getting back into traveling alone. Maybe I should be wondering what they think of me, the tall lady with the funny hairdo and the shiny eyeglasses, sipping a venti Starbucks and people-watching in the airport.
4 comments:
LJ just asked me what was funny as I chuckled to myself while reading your post. There were no pictures in my version (???) but the descriptions may have been better--very abstract. My favorite was the mental picture of you at the end. :)
I see them now!
Perhaps the other interesting perspective would come from the flight attendant at the gate, watching you watching the family.
You know what? After reading this blog, I think airport watching would make a funny reality show. No candid camera "ha, ha, you're on television" conclusion necessary. Just watch and enjoy.
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