October 23, 2016:

Ripped jeans, cowgirl boots. Weathered face still beautiful; girlish voice as she kindly offers to share some of her space with a new arrival. Backpack on the floor between opened knees. Texting, sadly not to me.

Ripped stretchypants, pony tail, ear buds: Russian blonde in heavy makeup, lost in her fingernails. Doing nothing, thinking nothing, just staring, waiting out the wait.

Tiny mom in white down vest and track pants, slouched, studying her boarding pass. Beads and glitter on her striped pink-and-black bag; odds are she added these herself. She's so small her clothes weigh more than she does. Parsing and re-parsing the same four inches of paper.