The new year is here! We had a busy week ringing in the new year and enjoying time off not thinking about the inevitable. Going back to work and school!? I went back to work on Thursday. The boy goes back to school Monday, 6th of January. I’m hoping it goes well for him. We have been bad about keeping up with reading and some other daily habits that he has been used to. This week hasn’t been that exciting so there isn’t much to report.
We rang in the new year at the Provo Recreational Center. They have a lot of family-friendly things to do from 7pm until Midnight. This is the second year we’ve been, and it is super fun! They have:
- A Hypnotist
- Bounce Houses
- Dog Shows
- Acrobatics
- Karaoke
- Face Painting
- Comedy Show
- Game Shows (Family Feud)
- Dancing
- Virtual Reality
- Fireworks (One at 10pm and one at 12pm)
There is a lot to do. I may have left some out. It felt like the night flew by! We didn’t get home until 1am and then to sleep at 2am. Jacob and I both slept until 12pm! It was awesome!
One thing I wanted to talk about but I’m a big people watcher. I love the big city. There are a lot of people in a small place. I can sit on the corner and watch people shuffle by. I’ve always found it very interesting. In the past, I’ve been a pretty shy person, so it was always a good time to come out of my shell by talking to complete strangers.
I don’t live in the city or anywhere I can watch people. Where we live, we don’t have a lot of street traffic we can look at, so sitting out on your porch at night watching the world go by is hard. My office window at work faces a driveway into the back of the building. Behind our building, there is a path down into the neighborhood behind us. It is used by a few people during the summer. We are pretty sure there are some shady people using the path. They are fun to watch but not as exciting as the big city.
I have found a few cool live camera sites that are fun to watch while I’m at work. There is a very nice camera in New York, Time Square Cams, that is fun to watch It’s a pretty famous camera, so you see people stopping and waving at the camera. Their Grandparents or Parents are home watching on the camera. It’s fun to watch the interactions.
While watching on Friday, a mother and baby walking one way and another lading coming towards them. The baby tripped and fell. She picked herself up and the lady stopped and helped and showed concern for the baby. It’s a typical interaction you’d expect. Two complete strangers (as far as I know) interacting. Internally, this interaction I’m witnessing is playing out in my head. I find it very interesting. Another camera I watch a lot is in Hermosa Beach at a restaurant. You can see the beach, people waiting in line to go eat, or people exercising up and down the beach. Super fun.
MILLIONS of people live int this world, and we will never meet them all. There are some that you’ll never want to see again, but there are some you’ll want to keep in touch with. Personally, I find it fun to meet new people.
Here is a story about meeting random strangers. We were at Legoland several years ago, and Jacob randomly got on a ride with this girl. They HIT it off and wanted to ride the next ride together. It was just her and her mom and dad. We had to stand in line with Jacob, her, and her parents. The kids were treating each other like they knew each other before talking, laughing, and having a great time! We were trying to get to know her parents. It was slow at first, but we ended up spending the WHOLE day with them. We learned a ton about them, and they did the same with us. We were from two different worlds. We were the Mormons from Utah, and they were Catholics from California. Fortunately, that didn’t matter to anyone. We were all sharing a great experience riding rides and enjoying a theme park. It was great. We keep in touch with them on Facebook. It was a great experience and we never would have met them if it weren’t for two kids making friends.
Life is busy, and it’s hard to stop and talk to everyone you see. A smile, wave, or a quick “HI” are super easy! I’m not much of a “Goal” person. I think I’ll try it out this year and make it a point to meet new people and/or make someone smile. Everyone has a story or something to say. Give them a chance. You should stop and listen to that story sometime.