Out the Kitchen Window

So there's this man. I see him 2-3 times everyday. I leave for work about 6:30 AM and often see this man when I open the garage door and back out to drive away. Don't get the wrong idea, he's not a stalker or anything. He's just walking his dog. I see him in the morning, sometimes in the middle of the day and often in the evenings. So he walks his dog around the park frequently. He doesn't usually make eye contact. I've tried. I try to wave or smile and I think I've seen him smile back at me. He stands out to me for a couple of reasons: he walks so often, he wears the same outfit each time, he wears a turban and his wife (I think she's his wife) often walks about 50 paces behind him. Now, I'm sure I'm revealing a ton of assumptions and biases, though I hope not too many prejudices. I feel naive and ignorant about different cultures of the world. But I can't help deny that it's always bothered me that his wife walks behind him. I think about what it's like to be them. I wonder if they are in perfect agreement about the walking arrangement. I wonder if they even notice it or if it's something that's just natural and nothing to think about. I wonder if it bothers her but doesn't bother him. He always appears so calm and peaceful and I can't help but respect him for that and for the way he is clearly taking time to take care of himself by walking so frequently. I've wanted to stop and have an excuse to talk to him somehow, or even better, stop and talk to her. But it's so invasive of me to just want to talk to them to better understand how they feel about their walking arrangement. So, I just observe and wonder and try not to judge.

Well, yesterday, something different happened. I was standing in the kitchen, talking on the phone to my sister and staring out the kitchen window, when the man came walking by on the sidewalk opposite of my house as usual, and what do you know, his wife (I assume) was walking next to him, and for about 10 paces, he held her hand! I had to interrupt my sister to share the news! He was not only walking next to her, but he was holding her hand. By the time they were exiting the left side of my view out the kitchen window, they had dropped hands, but they were still walking side-by-side. Now, I'm sure they're perfectly happy the way they are with their own routines and patterns and that I'm just projecting my own images of what happiness looks like onto them, but I admit I felt better and smiled for quite a while after seeing them out the kitchen window.