My Rear Window
I can't quite get started this morning...
One interesting thing about apartment life is that you get a "free" view into other people's lives. It's like having an unlimited choice of television channels to watch...and you get to flip endlessly between stations. I know it would drive a lot of people over the edge; (including me on occasion) these sometimes too personal glimpses, but today it brings me a sense of community and connectedness. I have a wonderful couple living across the hall from me with a new baby. I love to hear the sounds of cooing and laughter. It brings so much life into this shelter of brick and mortar. The people living directly next to me are a young doctor and her husband from India. Each evening, the aromas from some delectable cuisine wafts under my door, signaling the end of their very hectic day. They just found out that she is pregnant and there have been relatives from India visiting and celebrating the wonderful news.
Some stories aren't quite as joyful and those are the ones that seem somewhat intrusive. Lost jobs, broken relationships, dreams deemed impossible, have all found a home here. I have heard the shouts, witnessed the tears, imagined the unthinkable...all of it played out on this sometimes too public of a stage.
There are times that I feel like Jimmy Stewart, minus the telescope of course, in "Rear Window." I have shared in the joy and grief of almost every person here; sometimes feeling that I know too much and other times not enough...but always wanting more.
One interesting thing about apartment life is that you get a "free" view into other people's lives. It's like having an unlimited choice of television channels to watch...and you get to flip endlessly between stations. I know it would drive a lot of people over the edge; (including me on occasion) these sometimes too personal glimpses, but today it brings me a sense of community and connectedness. I have a wonderful couple living across the hall from me with a new baby. I love to hear the sounds of cooing and laughter. It brings so much life into this shelter of brick and mortar. The people living directly next to me are a young doctor and her husband from India. Each evening, the aromas from some delectable cuisine wafts under my door, signaling the end of their very hectic day. They just found out that she is pregnant and there have been relatives from India visiting and celebrating the wonderful news.
Some stories aren't quite as joyful and those are the ones that seem somewhat intrusive. Lost jobs, broken relationships, dreams deemed impossible, have all found a home here. I have heard the shouts, witnessed the tears, imagined the unthinkable...all of it played out on this sometimes too public of a stage.
There are times that I feel like Jimmy Stewart, minus the telescope of course, in "Rear Window." I have shared in the joy and grief of almost every person here; sometimes feeling that I know too much and other times not enough...but always wanting more.