Observations

I hate to eavesdrop, but sometimes you can't help it. The people next to you are just too loud, or too intriguing - like the aftermath of a bad car accident on the freeway.

Observation #1:
Last Sunday, hubs and I were eating at a local fast food Mexican place after church - Qdoba. Ok, really - we do this every single Sunday. I love, love, love Qdoba. There are never enough tables there, and the tables that ARE there, are always super squished together. There was a family of four (two adolescent children) sitting next to us. We were so distracted by their conversation; our table ended up being a pretty quiet one. They were a sad train wreck. Their conversation represented all that is wrong with our culture and with marriage today. First, they spent a long time talking about their family schedule for the week. Well, the wife did (ok, she really dominated the conversation the entire time). She had her electronic device out, and proceeded to inform the husband of all of the things she had scheduled for each day of the week. It took a long time. Then the discussion turned to their schedule for that afternoon. She needed to get some things at the grocery store, but forgot the list at home. She wanted them to go up the hill to their house, go get the list, then go back out to do their errands, though she was NOT happy about it. The kicker here was her reasoning - she absolutely refused to use her day off with the kids (Vets day) to do "family errands." No way. The family errands had to get done on Sunday so that she could spend Monday however she wanted.

It was just sad. The husband was so quiet, so beaten down. What a wife! There was no joy at their table. The family wasn't enjoying being together at all - they just sat there and listened to mom rant and rave. Sad.

Observation #2:
Hubs went to the grocery store for me last night (he is my hero!!!) and called to ask about a particular item. He also had to share a sad observation. He was watching a family of 4 or 5 in the frozen food aisle. All of them - parents and kids - were all extremely overweight. They were carrying their food items with them, which included several kinds on (non-diet) soda, and some other junk food items that I can remember right now (chips or something). They were standing in the aisle arguing over which FOUR kinds of ice cream to get. It was yet another representative picture of many problems in our culture.

Obviously they don't, but I always wonder if these people realize how much of a stereotypical picture (of bad things!) they have created. If they realized it, would it make them sad? Would they be ashamed, make excuses, think it's funny? I wonder what sad stereotypical pictures other people see me in that I don't recognize. Oh, I pray for eyes to see them, whether they are in public or private.