PEOPLE WATCHING (musings from the airport)
We arrived at the airport 2 hours before flight departure as suggested, only to find out on arrival that the flight was cancelled as we were scheduled on the next one 3 hours later.
So glad we woke up at 330am for that.
We couldn’t check our bags in so we set up in a little posy near the entrance and waited, and waited and waited.
And on waiting, Kenzie listened to music and I watched the people.
Rushing in, meandering in. Bags wheeled behind them, backpacks strewn across weary shoulders. Most of them unamused by the pre dawn attendance.
The space was quiet and unassuming on arrival, just the way we like our spaces. But within 30 minutes of sitting by that door in that quiet little posy the departure area bloomed into a hive of frantic activity.
I could see them outside walking towards the entrance, and the split second decision they all made to enter this door, or the one further ahead. The speed at which they’re brains were receiving, encoding and responding to information (fucking fast) was almost slowed down to my otherwise un-entertained mind. I could literally see the neural pathways firing in the micro movements of their body and the darting of their eyes before they’d swiftly turn into the door just in front of me.
I saw every single variation of the human species you could imagine. All of them hideous and beautiful in their own right.
Not only did I see their human form - shape, size, colour - but I could also see into their minds in the way they moved, the speed at which they decided where to go, the clothes they wore, the subtle look of panic, ease or “I’m fucking off my face after a night out and I can’t handle this level of activity right now” on their faces, they’re consideration for others, the cleanliness of their shoes, their posture, their walking pace and style (man people walk funny), and the people they were with.
I saw them all. I gained insight into them and their lives in a fleeting moment of presence to their entry to the airport.
So this an ode to the people that I witnessed while I sat on my ass waiting for a flight that was hours away. An ode to the messiness of humanness.
The ugly
The beautiful
The terrified
The confident
The proud
The ‘why the fuck am I here’ at this hour
The ADHD Speedy McSpeedsters
The kappa-imbalanced sloth (seriously never seen a man move slower)
The well dressed
The ranger (red head)
The ‘ugg boots are ok to wear to the airport’ (not they’re not love. They’re fucking slippers)
The careless
The tatooedd
The pierced
The overachievers trying to make Daddy proud (45+ year old man with beard I’m looking at you)
The ‘my pillow goes everywhere with me’ (I feel you brother)
The morbidly obese
The ‘I don’t identify as that (insert all the pronouns)’
The immobile - with every sort of mobility aid
The anxious
The ‘if I wear this fancy coat I’ll look put together’ (I see you falling apart in your heart, lovely)
The limbless
The frantic mother dragging two kids
The 80+ year off granny with pixie cut white hair wearing pretty much the same outfit as me and looking FINE (thanks Decujba)
The green-dyed haired
The pull your shorts up, no one needs to see your undies right now mate
The ‘my shoes have been worn every day for 8 years and they’re the only ones I own’
The dirty Sanchez mo
The ‘I regret having too many children’
The ‘I’m not a morning person’
The loud and obnoxious turn your voice down its 5am person
The fat friend
The cool friend
The scaredy cat
The ‘I’m important and going somewhere important’
The ‘it’s suitable to wear black socks, white trainers, a long green hippy skirt, khaki puffer coat to ankles, beanie and headphones over top’ - situ-fucking-ation 👀
The rule abiders
The ‘fuck your masks’ non-wearers
The gimme a quick vape before I walk inners
The ageing
The youth
The dying
The injured
The I just came straight from the clubbers
The well shaven, hair is done, I am looking grooooooomeders
The uncertain
The ‘heck yes I’m travelling!’
The frustrated with lifers
The impatient
The bossy
The immigrant
The complacent
The worried
The overjoyed with lifers
And every single thing in between.
If we open our hearts in curiosity to witness the depths of our humanness, we’d see that despite our many differences we are all a lot the same. This SPECTRUM of humanness is vast and expansive, with infinite possibilities and expressions. Yet we’ve become so single minded to what should be possible. There is nothing cookie cutter about us, and thank god for that. We are all messy and chaotic, calm and mystical, cautious and wonderful in the same breath. Despite our neurology, our conditions, our stories, our beliefs, our choose in clothes, our challenges, our joys.
It’s all brilliant. Our uniqueness is something to be celebrated, to be awed. Like “wow … how could one species be expressed in this many ways?”.
What a wild life this is.