How an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman. (Proverbs 30:19)I was 23 and living in Houston, TX. Ella and I had been married for a couple of years and were shopping in the big Sears store in Pasadena, TX, for something. I sat in a chair outside the try on rooms and was beginning my life of waiting for Ella to try stuff on.
A teenaged girl was trying on formals for a prom or something. To get from the try on room to her mother required going by me. She was aware of my presence and the fact that I was watching her. It was not lust or anything but sheer boredom. I would have watched flies I was so bored.
I was dressed as I usually was: flannel shirt, bell bottom jeans, chukka boots. My hair was moderately long and large and I had muttonchop sideburns and a big, bushy mustache. You know, every girl’s dream (or so I modestly envisioned myself).
Actually, I knew I was never handsome nor was I going to be. So I always tried to go with interesting: a big burly, hairy guy.
Anyway, she had three formals. Her mother had picked out the one she liked but the girl was going to try them all on. She walked by me with formal number one on. I watched her walk by and made no real facial comment or anything, but she was watching me to see which one I liked or if I would even make any kind of notice. She and her mother talked about it and she came back to the dressing room.
She walked out in number two. It was an attractive gown and a good color for her. it also fit her well. I guess I did something with my face that was approval. She looked good in it. Her mother made a couple of comments, but it was not the one the mother wanted.
Back in and back out in number three. Neutral from my viewpoint. Back into the dressing room. Then the discussion.
The mother wanted number three, nobody wanted number one, but the girl wanted number two in spite of her mother’s wishes. The reason? I had looked at her approvingly when she came by in it. She was intensely aware of my presence in that way that young women get when young men are around and I liked the dress. So she liked it because I had made an approving face.
It surprised me. I am not nor ever was a chick magnet, nor did I have legions of girls looking to do my bidding. But I was near her age and made an approving face at her dress, so that was the one she wanted. Her mother probably never knew why her daughter wouldn’t choose what to her was the best dress.
But I know that I have done things or not done things because I knew someone was watching me. And whether I knew them or not, it mattered that they saw me.
Just one of those things that comes back to my memory.
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