Thoughts that Lead to Thoughts

I'm on the shuttle bus that takes me from the parking lot to campus. One of the women sitting across from me has a very floral bag. My eyes start tracing the pattern, taking it apart in order to see how it all came together.

I do that a lot with patterns. I could stare at a patterned tile floor for at least an hour. Sometimes I see faces in a carpet. You probably think I'm crazy (the verdict is still out on that) but think of it this way. You may look at a cloud and see a particular shape but the person standing next to you might not.

I began to wonder if anyone else has done this.
I started looking at the 4 women sitting across from me, including floral-pattern-lady.

There was the girl that continued to send text messages throughout the bus ride. I wondered who she was texting. A boyfriend, sister, best friend maybe? Was it serious? Or were they just having a regular "conversation"?

Next to floral-pattern-lady was the stern-faced woman dressed all in black, including stockings. I wondered if she was as stern as she looked. People can surprise you sometimes, but first impressions are usually all people see.

And then there was the med student. I didn't think much about her. She didn't really look too interesting, but seemed interested in staring at me. I wonder if she was doing the same thing I was. I wondered what her description of me would be on a first impression basis.

When was the last time you looked at yourself as an outsider in order to see what everyone else saw? I'm still not sure what people see in me but I see a hard, unapproachable person in the mirror. I want to change that. I'm going to try at least.