That kind of face
So I went over to Target to pick up a couple of things after lunch today.  Because I am an absolute sucker for cheap jewelry, I had to stop in the jewelry area.

There was a very cute faux pearl choker with a filigree ornament on that caught my eye and I picked it up to have a closer look.  A middle aged woman browsing in the same area comes up to me and says, "Oh, I was going to get that."  Restraining my bitchy "Well, you could have put it in your basket then" instinct, I said, "Oh, sorry about that" and handed it out to her.  Cute necklace, but, you know, whatever.

She says "Oh, no, I put it down, I've got plenty of jewelry and we've got to pinch the pennies this year!"  At this point I figure I have her pegged as "chatty lady", roll my eyes sympathetically and say "tell me about it."

Cause, you know, bad economy.  Recession.  Got to cut some corners.

If I EVER say "tell me about it" without meaning it again I should be SMACKED because apparently I cannot learn.  This woman went on a diatribe for, quite literally, ten minutes (which is a *long* time talking to a complete stranger in the middle of Target).  I heard ALL about her adorable little granddaughter, she's four now and SO smart, already able to read quite a bit, and her no-good son who is finally starting to settle down and has a very sweet girlfriend, Thai, she is, well her family is, she's American, and her oophorectomy/hysterectomy which she didn't really have to have, everything was working okay, but apparently she carries the BRCA gene and her mother and one aunt died of breast cancer, and she was done having children anyway but she felt very hollow after the fact but it was really a relief, you know, she still had to get mammograms every year but at least it wasn't hanging over her head anymore.

Meanwhile I nodded and said "Mm-hm" and didn't really say anything else.  Eventually I out and out lied and looked at my watch, gasped "Ohmigod I am SO late, I have to run!  Nice meeting you!" and sprinted for the hills.

This sort of thing happens to  me every few months and as always I'm a bit depressed now.  She really did seem quite nice.  Just lonely.  I myself will often say a few words to a friendly looking stranger if I'm bored and don't know anyone, and it worries me that this is the ultimate outcome of such a  lifestyle choice, haranguing innocent passersby in the middle of Target. 

Sigh.

Some of our photos of our trip to mexico are up on flickr here.  There are shots of me on a zipline plus a giant spider.