strangers embracing and smiles everywhere

collage portrait done by
Michelle Caplan.  found on Etsy.

I always try to make my visits to Penn Station as brief as possible.  I know by now that trains come ten minutes before their scheduled departure, which leaves me a ten minute window where the track is posted and I can go directly to my train without having to stand around and wait.  This past Saturday I had to stand around and wait.  However, to my pleasant surprise it was very enjoyable, as a result of two amazing things happening. 

The first was a celebrity spotting.  I probably walk by some kind of celebrity on a weekly basis, but either don’t recognize them, or am too busy thinking about something else that I don’t even notice.  It would have been difficult to not notice Mary-Louise Parker (Nancy Botwin from the show Weeds) because she was having a fit at the information booth, unsure of where to meet her friend.  I think she wanted people to know it was her.  Actors like attention, right?  That’s why they’re actors.  And for the record, she is beautiful and super hot.

The next was something that I have seen many times before, but for some reason it affected me greatly on this one specific day.  It is so wonderful watching people meet up and embrace!  I think I could have stood there all night (not really) and watched friends/family/lovers see each another for the first time in days…weeks…maybe months.  I loved it, so much happiness and cheer.