People Watching

People watching is one of the incredible activities that allows you to zone out, soak up the life around you, learn about yourself through observation of man kind, and appreciate the beauty waiting to be uncovered in each person passing by.

It's also creepy when you accidentally zone out while making eye contact with someone...oops - it helps the creepo factor to not be absent minded like myself ha!

Anyway I've been people watching this weekend in various locations around my town.

FIRST: contra dances at the apple barn

Amazing! I love being apart of them for sure, swirling and smiling and swingin' my partner! but of course I'm not quite brave enough, yet, to ask a dude to dance, so i get to obverse some of the time. Love it! Some friends are completely turned off by the B.O., dreads, and funky mixed match style. I however soak it in and just love watching the individuals express themselves so vibrantly on the outside! i love the country/hippie/mountain culture here in Boone. Its artsy and free and open. One day I pray for opportunities to speak truth into their openness, so that their beautiful outward expressions can be wrapped up with their true love for the Saviour of the earth, not the earth itself.

(And it's my goal one day, to be asked by this man named Doyle?  not quite sure, but in a hiking magazine i read he's the guide to something like annual 3 month treks of the Appalachian trail. he's a character bc he's got this giant pot belly, wears huge Hawaiian tshirts, what looks like nurses baggie pants, and has a santa clause beard. I'd just like to chat with him about his hiking and love for exploring the WHOLE Appalachian Trail!! thats impressive. he may be a tad on the odd side, but he's intriguing, you gotta give him that!)

So  SECOND: the farmer's market in Boone

Saturday morning bright and early, go get your coffee, cinnamon bun, fresh bread, beautiful flowers, sweet as art work, bunnies, etc etc etc. Not to mention - more hippies and farmers and mountain folk! Lovely, so lovely! They are hard workers, sharing their love for gardening/baking/coffee with the community. I got to talk to so many people I hadn't seen in years, as well as have the most enlightening conversations about all sorts of things and make new friends. For me, this is a little slice of heaven. Idk why exactly. I really enjoyed getting to tote around my little nephew and support a local artist, and drink a delicious cuppa joe and expose Judson to the friendly community of watagua county locals.

THIRD: Nail salon

I meet a very kind young man from Mongolia when Betty took me to get a manicure. When I was younger I thought the men doing your nails and their the tiny little mustaches where creepy and it was incredibly awkward trying to decipher what they were saying while they were massaging your hands haha! But i was totally wrong! and this little guy told me he all about himself. That he like Boone bc his family lived here, but he did not like cold weather or snow, that he liked hot weather the way it is back home. He even laughed at my jokes! haha He seemed to have a lot of life in him and I prayed he'd have a God honoring journey here in Boone and that he's find fulfillment in Jesus.

FOURTH: Cafe Portifino

So I went out for my birthday the other night with my dear friend Sarah. Good times. I didn't even bother changing out of my work out clothes. Which was a good choice since when we were walking to the car in downtown Boone there was a mouse! a tiny mouse that i cornered in the middle of the road, but then screamed and lost him when he lunged at us and a car honked rudely hahaha Anyway! the people I observed that night were all about freaky eye contact.. yikes! but they were all obviously searching. and then there was a dude passed out in front of the car when we left and I wanted to just, I don't know, pray for healing for being intoxicated for him! haha! it was sad to me though, bc his friends were enforcing the excessive, mindless, humiliating activities and they were clearly all feeling bad by making light of the vulnerable state their friend was in, but it wasn't good enough a facade. People do that all the time, but it seems like such a obvious display of emtipness and deep hunger for something meaningful. My heart broke for them. I didn't know how to reach out. Situations like that, I think God shows me to think through, process, pray about and then ask Him for insight into how to show love, truth, and joy by having a personal relationship with Jesus. One dude looked about ready to cry, and I just wanted to hug him with a supernatural Jesus hug! hahaha Not sure what that would be exactly, but I'm sure it was be a God moment to touch the soul of the recipient. ANYWAY! That encounter saddened me, and some how i want to know, and I will read and pray to Jesus about how He'd go and show true love, and real answers, and supernatural contentment to every soul there.

Jesus, teach us how to see people the way you see them, and speak to them the way you want to speak to them, and love them unconditionally the way you yourself love us unconditionally.