The World Outside My Window Is Peak People-Watching Material

From my street-level apartment, I get to see humanity in all its glory.

If this post is giving “Rear Window” vibes, it’s totally on purpose. You see, much like Jimmy Stewart in the Hitchcock film classic, I too can see life go by just outside my apartment window. (Plot twist: Stewart uses binoculars to peep at the neighbors—which is creepy, come to think of it—but my space is street level so I don’t have to use any enhancements.) I even bought this crystal window bauble cling thingy at this cool store down by the Jersey Shore to remind myself to look up every now and again and watch the world go by.

I’m nosy by nature, and observing people doing their everyday doings feeds my curiosity. Here are some things I have witnessed since I moved into the building:

• Steamy make-out sessions conducted by couples who clearly don’t want the night to end

• A homeless man with a big-ass boom box and microphone inside a shopping cart, strolling down the street whilst telling anyone who’s around why he chose that particular song to play that day

• A guy (I think he works in my building, but I’m not really sure) who insists on taking his cigarette break right outside my window, which makes me feel like I probably shouldn’t walk around butt naked, as one does when one lives alone

• The PSE&G team that can’t seem to get whatever electrical thing they happen to be fixing quite right because they show up—and clog up the streets (and parking spaces)—with their colossal trucks at least once a week

• The dog moms, dads, and/or kiddos who escort their fur babies on their morning constitutionals and, hopefully, bring doggie bags to pick up their poop (because not to do so is, quite frankly, so fucking rude)

• A group of girlfriends who must have enjoyed some fishbowl-sized cocktails because they look tipsy as hell and can’t stop laughing out loud (we love to see it!)

• The Uber Eats/Door Dash/Fill-in-the-blank delivery person who is standing right across the street yelling into the phone that he can’t find the address (dude—or ma’am—it’s plastered in large illuminated letters right in front of the building. Sheesh.)

• The faces of the people whose cars have either been ticketed or towed because they overstayed their welcome in that particular space instead of paying the maximum at the meter to cover their bases and now have to face the consequences of that decision

• The same couples who were once making out while leaned against a car at midnight but are now arguing/shouting expletives so loudly that everyone in the neighborhood is grabbing their popcorn to see what the outcome will be

I’ve also witnessed the seasons changing, the college students who’ve returned in droves from their summer break to start the next school semester, the older couples who still like one another enough to go for a morning or evening stroll, and so much more than I can reasonably include here. I’m not encouraging anyone to go the Jimmy Stewart route (like I said, creepy), but do yourself a favor and look up from that book, computer, or cup of coffee you drink each morning to white-knuckle through the day, and look outside your window. See what you can see. There’s more to life than letting life just pass us by, even on the streets where we live.