I started watching people again….

It’s one of the best things you can do on a chilly Sunday afternoon, while waiting for the bus in a dusty bus-station. I almost forgot how well it feels to stop and look around for a second and just forget about everyday life. Probably everyday worries, because everyday life is what surrounds us, but we just have a natural tendency to avoid what’s happening next to us…Two images caught my attention and both of them put a smile on my face…

Switching buses, I came across this older man with a small child sitting on his shoulders. I think it was his granddad, or probably an older father…Something struck me seeing these two. The older man had some loose pants on, some enormous glasses, scruffy gray hair and a beard to top it. The blond child was sitting happily on his shoulders and grabbing his hair. But it wasn’t the beard, nor the blond child…it was something else… They had the same smile on their faces. No words, no laughter, not even a sound…but the same childish smile on both of their faces….

As I came to the second bus station, two small girls were running around… most probably two sisters still in kindergarten with amazingly beautiful curly blond hair. Be careful girls…stop fooling around. – said a rugged and almost drunken voice. I looked at this older man, probably in his early sixties…small in stature with some shabby jeans on and a face that told me that he used some alcohol in his life. I felt a small outrage in me, seeing this man taking care of these two little girls. Are you hungry kids? – the old man asked the two girls. Both of them nodded their small heads. Com’on. Pappy’s gonna buy you some fries. The two kids started jumping around. He picked both of them up. So, ain’t you gonna give pappy a little kiss? –the old man asked them with a smile on his face. The two little girls kissed the cheeks of their gran’pappy. All three of them smiled. It was the same smile that I saw some moments before. The same childish smile on a chilly Sunday afternoon in two dusty bus-stations…

31^st of May, 2009, Sunday – Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca