Clapping at its Best!

I had the opportunity for a quick, spur of the moment, dinner out last night as a bon voyage for my daughter as she heads back to college today.  Her roommate is already in town and staying with our family so we gathered together along with my parents and turned it into something a little festive to send her off.

It was one of those nights where I felt as if I were seated perfectly in a restaurant so that I could see all who entered, and what most were up to as they waited in line.  A trait of mine that is becoming more apparent to me as I obtain more silver is my love of 'watching people,'  and not in a weird way, but just absorbing the different ways in which people communicate...or not.  I find it so intriguing the give and take of communication; facial expression, personal space, and, hand movement.  I might have been a fan of silent movies long after sound was introduced, mainly because of my fascination with 'seeing.' Perhaps this is because what I see holds such an important role for my imagination, really gets the 'what ifs' flying, or perhaps, it's just a blessing in disguise as my hearing is unfortunately getting closer to being something of the past.  

But back to communicating and hand movement.  Like the owner of the restaurant last night.  I could tell he recognized me right away when I walked in, and who wouldn't as it was my fourth time visiting his new restaurant this week.  I held up four fingers to him and he began laughing and clapping.  Just to put it out there...I don't normally eat out four times a week, but with 'back to school week' for teachers and our many meetings, we escaped our confines any chance we got.

During our meal last night I heard a little commotion and a squeal.  I looked up in time to see an older woman in line clapping her hands as a little girl, possibly her granddaughter of no more than two or three years, was running toward her, only to be scooped up by her and smothered with kisses.  It was definitely a treasured moment and I wish they knew what an impact it made on me.

And right before I left the restaurant, I heard and witnessed more clapping, but this time from a little boy whose excitement for pizza couldn't be contained with just a smile.  I laughed to myself silently, realizing that I felt the same excitement for pizza.

With all the clapping I had just experienced in a period of 45 minutes, I wondered where and how clapping all began and thought I'd look it up.  When I later sat down at my computer to 'Google' how clapping began, I got a little sidetracked with Facebook, and watched a video shared by a friend.  And wouldn't you know it, it was more clapping...and clapping at its best.   I would love to have been one of those people in the video doing a little of my own people watching when this began, but for now, I'll share the video with you.  For a one minute 'feel good' clapping experience, CLICK HERE.  Oh, and it turns out there's not much knowledge on the origin of clapping other than early Greek arenas and presentations, but I'm happy with the definition...A simple indicator of the average relative opinion of the entire group.