People Watching

Okay...I have heard that one way to find things to blog about is to watch people.
I don't have time to watch people. Then again, maybe I do...Make the most of waiting. So I tried it the other day at the library while I was lined up behind 6 other people at the Franklin/Williamson County Public Library. (They have not figured out the value of having more than one clerk available.)

Here goes...Man comes in accompanied by a woman. Man is dressed casually. Is
probably in his late 40s...Medium height, medium build. Salt and pepper curly hair. Glasses. Khaki slacks, navy short-sleeved pullover shirt, no socks, loafers. The woman with him is his mother, I decide. She toddles by his side, scooting her white nurse-looking-rubber-soled-shoes across the floor. He takes her to the front section of fiction. I know that section. It is LARGE PRINT! The man stands back, leaning on the corner of a counter. He stands quietly and looks about as his mother starts at the A's and goes shelf by shelf looking for books of her choice. She is short and has to stand on tip-toe to reach the 2nd from the top shelf. Forget the top one. And she stands close. I realize that she can't see well. She can't see well, but she can't give up reading. And I can surmise that reading means too much to her to give it up. She goes to LARGE PRINT, but she doesn't give reading up
totally. Man stands back, and isn't offering any help. I get frustrated with him until I realize...he is not oblivious of his mother. He is giving her independence as much as he can at this stage. He crosses one leg over the other as he shifts feet while waiting, but he does not do so impatiently. He has given up time on a Sunday afternoon, to take his mother somewhere she will enjoy. He doesn't run the errand by himself for her. He takes her with him. He gives her freedom, he gives her joy, he gives her his time and his love.