Window Watching

How can I say this without sounding like a total creep?

....I give up. I'm just going for it.

I love looking in people's windows.

I don't walk up to their houses to peer in, or climb trees to get a better look. I just mean that if I'm driving past someone's house, or in a conference room at work that's directly across from someone's window, I like looking in and seeing what's going on. I like seeing how it's decorated. At Christmas time I love looking for Christmas trees. 

Yesterday during a meeting I'm pretty sure I saw a therapy session happening in the building across from us. I could only see the woman who I thought was the therapist, but she seemed very attentive to whoever was facing her, and she was taking notes. Or maybe it wasn't a therapy session at all--maybe I just got that idea in my head and then I just made all the things I saw happening fit into that narrative. 

I remember being on buses when I was in high school or college on my way to track meets and looking down into people's car windows wondering what their story was, or where they were going. Usually, I was wishing I was in the car with them--wherever they were going had to be better than running the 400. And now that I'm riding in cars more often than buses, I find myself looking up into the tinted windows of the buses, wondering where those people are going. Or if they're watching a movie on their iPad. Boy, do I wish I was watching a movie in my car.

Nighttime makes everyone's houses look more inviting. The lights are always glowing yellow. And they're always having family dinner, or watching a Red Sox game on TV, or doing something else adorable that I always kind of wish I could be a part of.

One time when we were in Italy my family walked past someone's window while they were in the middle of some sort of aggressive dispute. Maybe if our cell phones had worked we would have called the cops. But anyways...I did not wish to be a part of that. That was one window I was perfectly happy to bypass.

Maybe looking through someone's window is like when you first meet someone but don't know too much about them. By glancing in a window, you can't really know what someone's whole house looks like, or what's going on in all the other rooms--all you see is the yellow glow of their lamps, and what TV show they're watching. It's a rosy picture, and an incomplete one. But if you were to open the door and walk in, you'd get a whole different view--a more complete view. And maybe your opinion of them would change. Maybe you would see a mess on the floor, or rotten food in the fridge, or worse. Maybe their house wouldn't seem as put together when you're looking from the inside as when you're looking from the outside.

People are always messier than they first appear to be when you glance at them. And I think that's fine. I love looking in people's windows, but I would much rather walk through a friend's door instead. Even if it's messy inside. 

That was really corny. Sorry.


"I don't understand what Dad was doing in the middle of the street?"
"What was it George? Bird-watching?"
"What, Lorraine?? What??"
-Back to the Future