People Watching

I enjoy watching people, especially young families with children, while shopping or at the fair or on vacation.  Last week I visited Disney Springs, formerly Disney Village, by myself as Aloma can’t walk because of her bad hip.  I walked the entire village then sat with a Starbucks and watched people walk by.  The crowd was mostly young families with children, about a third foreign, Asian and Hispanic, both groups mannerly and neatly dressed.  The rest were Americans, the men sloppily dressed, had recently been in good shape but were sporting the beginning of a beer belly and the women pretty but a little overweight and looking anxious as they herded two or three small children through the crowds.  About half of the young women and men had tattoos.  This group was what I imagine that Hillary, in her ill advised comment, called a basket of deplorables.  In any case, they were having a vacation of a lifetime showing Disney World to their children.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed grilling out while on vacation on the bank of gas grills provided by our timeshare.  I’m rarely alone and often share a grill with someone else.  This year, I met the nicest man from Switzerland, grilling spareribs while I was working on two small steaks.  He answered my questions about Switzerland and asked questions about the United States.  He was semi-retired and travelled over three months a year.  I saw him the next day and asked how his spareribs turned out.  “Perfect,”  he said.

On another night, I had a nice conversation with two men from St. Louis cooking steaks for their families.  On the third night two men from Tampa were cooking enough hots and hamburgers to feed an army.  All were friendly and seemed to enjoy talking to an old man - me.

Our pool had sloping entrances to the water on both ends, was heated to almost 90 degrees and had a nifty water slide.  Although our resort has over ten pools, this one seemed to be preferred by families with children.  Moms would come early with their children carrying towels, sunscreen and a cooler with snacks.  Dads would come come later, lay in the sun for a few minutes and then play with their kids in the pool, throwing balls, tossing kids in the air and playing keep away.  Mon would lather the kids with sunscreen, dry them with towels and dispense snacks.

Moms kept the kids safe and comfortable, but it seemed to me the dads had more fun.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com