Bird Lady

I recently watched the movie, Home Alone 2. The Bird Lady in Central Park (Brenda Fricker) reminded me of a woman I observed at length in downtown Buffalo while waiting for my guy to pick me up outside the Ellicott Square Building this past winter. She walked in and out of the side doors of the Lafayette Hotel as if also waiting for someone. Here we stood, in opposite doorways. I suppose she could have watched me as easily as I watched her, except I was indoors, cozy and warm, looking at her through the glass doors. She stood in the famous, frigid downtown Buffalo wind in what looked like a flimsy cotton house-dress, a light coat that she clutched in an effort to keep it closed, mismatched white sports sox with red and blue Buffalo Bills stripes on the left one, and sneakers. She wore no hat, no scarf, no gloves, but she tightly grasped a shabby, worn, tapestry bag that, for all I knew, may have held all of her earthly belongings. She looked my age or younger which brought me up short -- a kind of "there, but for the grace of God, go I" moment.

I looked down and said a prayer of thanks for the warm, clean, expensive clothing I was wearing, and I said another prayer requesting comfort and peace for this woman. I stood and watched longer and realized this was no lonely, sad soul after all. Every person who walked into the Hotel door greeted her warmly with a smile, a momentary chat, and even a hug. As one person, dressed even shabbier than she came through, she stopped, dug into her purse and handed him something. A coin perhaps? He looked at it in his open palm and stood in front of her with a smile, gave her shoulder a gentle touch, and hastily departed through the glass doors. I was entranced with the dynamics and was grateful that my ride was late.

Let me tell you more about my Lafayette Lady next time.

Meanwhile, here's a little history lesson about the Ellicott Square Building. It was named after Joseph Ellicott, as was the town south of Buffalo in which I reside, Ellicottville. The 10-story building was built in one year (1896) and was considered the largest office building in the world until 1908. It was the earliest known dedicated motion picture theater in the world, according to Wikipedia. Hey, Buffalo wasn't known as the Queen City without good reason!