The People You Meet...and Misconceptions

While at my son's football game last night I suffered from tripod and lens envy. First off - I have a bad habit dealing with seeing someone with something that I want. I go through the "my whatever-it-happens-to-be is better" or some other nonsense of trying to make myself feel better...or just better than them. Yeah, its something I'm working on :)
Anyway, before the game a guy comes and sets up his chair behind me and I notice a big camera bag and the biggest tripod I've ever seen...and with big I mean TALL. My lord...with the legs extended on it alone it was roughly 6ft tall. Then he extended the head up another foot. It was insane! Here I was thinking, great...some guy with a huge camera is gonna come sit behind me and here I am thinking I'm a photographer with this piddly kit lens on mine. Yeah...well...it was a video camera. DOH! As usual, I felt like a complete moron and about 6 inches tall. I felt a bit better because he was for the other team and his older son was a complete prick :) (I know...still not good..lol)
During the game I stepped back to have a smoke and saw a man standing on the opposing teams side (about 8 feet away, lol) who had a dslr with a, I guessed 200 or 300 mm lens. Ok..instant jealousy. I don't know why I feel that everyone with a camera is competition...lol. I wanted to go up to him and strike up a conversation...but argued with myself that he was too far away. Lo and behold...he moved over to stand behind my husband. I grrr'd at myself and went to stand behind my husband as well. Eventually I asked what size glass he had. Ok people...I had rehearsed that. I assumed, from his relaxed yet nice clothing, that he was a photographer and would know that glass meant lens. Yeah...he didn't. I noticed he was an older man..probably in his late 50's early 60's. He mumbled something about 10x...so at that point I assumed he was not a pro...just someone there taking family pictures. To which I promptly called myself a dumba**...lol. So, I let go of my whatever-it-was'ness and just asked if it was 200 or 300. It was 300. I then asked what kind of camera body he had with it. It was an older Canon Rebel. Ok, by this point I had the little cartoon character version of myself kicking itself all over the field for being a jealous, rotten, stuck-up freak. He asked if I used PS...I said no...he mentioned Picassa...I said I'd heard of it but hadn't used it. We kept a general conversation going and he was very nice. He asked if I took a lot of photographs. I resisted the urge to laugh stupidly and just said, "Yes sir, I do." We talked about getting pictures printed and then, to make me feel even worse, he said "I've got 6 grandkids...*insert proud and modest chuckle here*...so I take a few too."
You know, as embarassed as I might feel on the inside...I'm glad moments like these happen for me. They put me in the place that I need to be. Heck, I'm not even a city-known photographer...I'm barely here or getting started in this crazy and over-populated business. I need moments like these to keep me grounded. So someday, when someone walks up to me and starts asking questions, whether they have camera in hand or not, I can remember the moments like that. Frankly...I don't want to be the photographer that rises up in me sometimes. I don't want to be the one judging all the other budding photographers out there...whether they use on-board flash or not, whether or not they ask "silly" questions. I want to be the kind, understanding, patient photographer who seeks to give, and gain, knowledge...not judge.