Tracing Marks

Today I was sat on a train on a particularly long journey and it was a busy service. I hadn't been able to reserve tickets, and I wound up sat next to a little old lady. Her face was as wrinkled as an old map, the type which has been folded and unfolded, and folded and unfolded over and over again. As I considered this; her face, the lines on her hands...I decided that, in a way, being old is like having your journal tatooed all over your body. Everyone can see traces of your life right there on your skin. Wrinkles which started as laughter, smiles, frowns and facial expressions born from tragedy, fun, comedy and romance. I don't know the back story of every line, but I know they're there. I can only wonder at the back story. That occupied me for some part of the journey actually.

A few seats across from me sat a lady engrossed in a book. It looked like exactly my type of book actually. Chick lit. She turned over the page, eating a KitKat, a smile on her face. Was it a funny book? Or was it some romantic moment which she had been waiting for whilst reading each previous page? The smile she made as she read would be traceable on her face in later years. That book made a mark.

Then, right across the aisle from me were a couple. And here lies something I've talked about before, and something which continues to preoccupy my mind constantly. You see, I suppose nothing would be noticeable about them, apart from this wasn't the first time I'd seen them. On Friday when I'd taken the same train journey in the opposite direction, the same couple had been sat across the aisle from me. And so they are a perfect example of those people you cross paths with, yet you don't know what bearing they will have on your life. If any. Well, I took note then. Mr was reading a scary book, had earphones in. Mrs was also reading a book. She looked happy, you know. They both did. I came to wonder what they had been doing for the weekend. That made a mark.

People watching might be a great way to entertain yourself on a long journey, but you won't realise how much meaning you'll take from it.