Photos from my "weekend"

Taken from a camera phone, so forgive the poor quality...I was in a quirky mood and started playing around and making a fool of myself in public.

Last night, in the snowstormExploring my own lashesThe current book of choice...The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth BowenI love discarded objects on the street. The gloss actually seeped out of the tube!

Speaking of making a fool of oneself, I had a moment when I was reading at the coffee shop. This particular shop fills with schoolchildren around 3:30, since it is surrounded by about six schools. A little boy-- he must have been about 10-- walked in with his mom and his little brother. His mom sat at a separate table with a friend while he and his brother settled at their own table with slices of chocolate cake. First off, I should state that this boy had "misfit" written all over him; I could sympathize. He had crazy curly hair that is probably always yanked (BOING!) by the girls, and his clothing had that odd fit characteristic of pre-adolescents who haven't grown into their own bodies yet. He spoke with mannerisms and a vocabulary beyond his age-group. Anyway, while this boy was sitting chatting with his far-less-awkward brother, the beginning of The Sounds of Silence ("hello darkness, my old frienddddd....) piped in over the sound system. "MOM!" the boy yelled excitedly. The mother quirmed in her seat. "It's The Sounds of Silence!! I LOVE this song!" The man next to be smiled as the boy started to sing. The mom tried to shush her son without calling attention to herself. I started to feel as if any second a spontaneous movie-like sing-a-long was about to start, like "Benny & the Jets" in 27 Dresses or "I Say a Little Prayer" in My Best Friend's Wedding. But the point is that the boy had no shame about who he was. Rather, it was his mother who felt shameful, and he will without doubt pick up on that over the years. I couldn't help feeling sad...right now he's singing with reckless abandon, but sooner or later others will make him feel like he's strange, whereas he's just wonderfully, fabulously himself. At that moment, him being blissfully unaware of his mother's judgment, I felt envious of him. How wonderful not to care about what others think! And how terrible the years to come could be once he does become aware...Boo. Our society is so closed-minded. It makes me squirm.