Smile Watching

After a meeting I had last night and a particularly overwhelming few weeks at work, I needed to decompress and spend some time by myself. Nothing says alone time quite like venturing out to Canada's busiest mall at the height of back-to-school shopping. That's right. I didn't choose a peaceful park or the corner of a coffee shop or a long walk. It seems that what I needed most was to find solitude among several thousand strangers.

The truth is, I went there to forget my own problems and engage in one of my favourite guilty pleasures ... people watching. There is something very inspiring about seeing strangers go about their business and imagining what goes through their mind.

Last night, there were several who indulged me in a much needed distraction...

Ashley

She is a 20 year old with hair reminiscent of Madonna's Like a Virgin stage, only updated to be hip and current. Sporting pink lip gloss that strikes the balance between perky and pouty. She is talking on her cell phone and crying. Wiping the tears and looking about to see if anyone else has noticed her weeping. Only I do. Did her boyfriend just break up with her? Has she been fired from her job? Is her mother ill? Her eyes look so sad and her face is stained from sobbing. My heart aches for her as I understand how hard it is to stop the flow of emotions once they start. But just as I wonder if I should ask if she is alright, the hint of a smile begins to creep across her lips. She stifles an appreciative laugh and wipes her face with her sleeve, as the person on the other side of the conversation succeeds at cheering her up.

Nina

She is dressed in a black power suit and make-up applied with perfection. She is so polished that she ends up appearing harsh and cold. Her hair is ironed straight with symmetrical bangs that frame her intense eyes. She could almost be an investment banker, yet she perches atop heels that look nearly impossible to maneuver and certainly were not chosen by her practical side. She is trying to look busy. Important. Powerful. Aloof. She avoids eye contact with everyone until she catches me staring at her. All I can think to do is smile. A big guilty smile. She surrenders a subtle up-turned corner for a brief moment as I disarm her.

The Richardsons

This family of three is knee deep in back-to-school shopping. The forty-something mom, dad and their 10 year old daughter are from out of town as they navigate the mall using a map. This is the kind of family that have been together so long that they all look the same. Ill fitting t-shirts and hair a few weeks past due for a cut. They carry too many bags and are worn from braving the urban shopping jungle. Their faces exhausted and pale and everyone is quarrelling. Until, that is, the daughter spots ice cream. Her eyes twinkle and she smiles in a coy way that her father cannot help but resist.

The Crew

There is a pack of teenage boys who are impossible to miss thanks to the strong scent of cologne that envelopes them from over-zealously applying at the department store's sampling counter. They aren't the cool guys or the jocks or the tough guys. You can sense, at a glance, that they are socially awkward and are keenly aware of safety in numbers. Self- conscious. Oh the definition of self-conscious, as they look at everyone to gauge their reaction to them. They are joking and tripping over themselves. Ten feet away, in tight jeans and a halter top with cleavage spilling out in all the right places, she walks by them with a sultry strut as she tosses her long hair behind her shoulders. You can see his world has stopped for a moment. He cannot feel his limbs. She saunters past him having not noticed he exists or even cognizant of the fact that her image will now star in the next dozen of his teenage fantasies. As she rounds the corner out of sight, he grins a big, proud, puppy dog grin and declares to his buddies... "she was so into me."

I smile.