Tag. I'm It.

People watching is a great past time of my parents. When they were young and fabulous, but oh so broke, they could have hours of entertainment just watching people. On a Saturday afternoon, you could find my mom and dad (pre-children) sitting a bar enjoying happy hour priced food and drinks watching and laughing and sharing and building a bond and an inside joke that til this day they still share. Waiting at an airport was no different, they liked to spot people and play 'look there's (fill in the blank with a celebrities name) and it was usually an exaggerated version of said celebrity which would bring on bouts of laughter.

Perhaps I picked up on their little game or maybe I am my father's daughter because as I sat there picking at my bagel and using my straw to drop chocolate milk on the crumbs watching the tiny pieces swell and get soggy, my eyes wandered around. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was trying to see if people were in fact staring at me but to my surprise they weren't looking at me at all, for all they knew I was just another face in the crowd. Oddly enough, everyone seemed to be looking at something else: two tables down from me was a star, an undeniable child star complete with shiny gold flakes dropping on him from the ceiling. It wasn't like I recognized him from TV or the movies or anything, but I could spot the signs. He was someone that demanded attention from anyone in his vicinity. His mother or manager, or maybe both, was fawning over him as she talked on an incredibly bulky cellular phone with a thick, long antenna and I thought I heard words like photo shoot and audition. She continued to make appointments as she dabbed his cheeks with some powder and straightened his collar and parted his hair. He squirmed the entire time and undid everything she did as if to make a statement that he was actually in charge of things, when anyone could tell that he was at the mercy of his Momager. Nonetheless, his actions, his demeanor, and his very aura conveyed that he was a force to be reckoned with: he was important. but who was he? He could be anyone, going anywhere and in a truly childish spirit, I wanted what he had without really understanding what it was, all I saw was something bright and shiny and it caught my attention and I was hooked. My mind started working a mile a minute trying to figure out how to be in the lime light, how to be the one everyone was stealing glances at and whispering about: I wanted to be noticed. I continued to stare unabashedly and then just like that, I knew exactly what to do.