I stare at people.

So yesterday, Hunter took off work so we could have a family day in the midst of his crazy Saturday and Sunday class schedule and we took Parker to Discovery Place Kids. It's a children's museum but mostly geared toward babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. It's pretty awesome.

Anyway...for those of you that don't know, Parker is a red head. And that day, there were what seemed like a dozen red-headed children running around the place. So, naturally, I was fascinated with them. Parker has a redish blonde color so it's pretty light. These kids were straight up gingas. Not even joking. It. Was. Insane. There was bright orange hair all over the place. It was almost as crazy as the time I was preggo with Parker and found myself in a store with dozens of pregnant women. Very surreal. Until I realized I was in Babies R Us and that probably made sense. This though....I can't think of a scenario where ginga kids, roughly the same age as Parker would all gather in the same place. So weird.

So I started staring. I didn't even realize it until I am sure I had been doing it for quite a while. People fascinate me. A lot. And two of the dads of these red-headed wonders had equally vivid hair. Intense. Hunter used to have Parker's hair color but over time it darkened. So, like every one else on the planet, if someone's situation differs from my own, it feels odd and the fascination kicks in. One of these dads caught me staring at him a couple of times. That was a little awkward. The first time I just smiled, pretending we accidentally looked at each other at the same time. Because, seriously, I'm not a weirdo. Ok, maybe a little bit. But I just love people. The second time he caught me looking at him, I could tell he was a little weirded out so I adverted my eyes and started staring at my own child. Real smooth. But what are you even supposed to do at that point? Anything else would have been way more weird.

I catch myself doing this all the time though. It's bad. People with insane hair, people with obnoxious clothing or make-up, people with any sort of defining feature at all....

I think I could sit on a bench and just watch people all day. I love the different ways people interact with each other but I especially love what people do when they think no one is looking. Most often, I catch them staring at someone else. This makes me feel a little less weird. Although it probably shouldn't.