The Kindness of Strangers

As I approached the weekend, the weather was grey and expected to be cold through Sunday. My wife had to work both days and I was exhausted coming off two plus weeks of traveling all over and/or working. My plan was to simply stay home and grab as much couch time as I could. Saturday, October 21, 2023, I got up and worked in my office for an hour or so. I couldn’t shake the red halter dress I tried on the prior weekend. So on the spur of the moment, I decided to go and see is she was still there, calling my name.

The photos you see here were taken when I got back home. I usually do this before, when ideally I look my best, but I flipped my script this day. The outfit was thrown together and I must admit, I looked like an “every day” woman. Kinda cool…….

Stop number one, the bank where I paid the credit card bill. The teller was a doll. She said she hadn’t seen me in a while. I pay the bill every month in the branch, usually dressed, but not always. And it’s not always the same branch or the same teller. She remembered me! And we had a lovely little chat that somehow included her telling me about her new crowns and me complimenting her on them. How we went there, who knows? But it was what women do. Kindness #1.

Then to the post office to buy stamps (remember those?). The woman in line ahead of me had a bin full of pink packages. I asked if that was her job (it looked like she sold something). Ends up they were invitations to her 14 year old daughter’s birthday party with Barbie dolls inside. I asked for an invitation which she jokingly extended. Kindness #2. She was at the counter a very long time so another employee helped me buy the stamps through the self service machine in the lobby. This darling woman called me “ma’am” and we laughed and joked about my inability to have done this myself. Kindness #3.

I drove across town to David’s Bridal and there she was! I gathered her up and a few other dresses and a lovely woman set me up in a dressing room with my name on the door. Kindness #4. I put my conquest on and came out of the dressing room to solicit an opinion. Another woman working there said I looked stunning and while I know she was being kind and trying to close a sale, I did look stunning (humble brag). Kindness #5, plus she signed me up for the loyalty program and saved me an additional 30%! Kindness #6.

Next stop, the liquor store (I remain no angel). The young man behind the counter could not have been kinder while checking me out (not THAT kind of checking me out). Kindness #7.

Final stop, Clothes Mentor! I did not intend to stop anywhere else, but the clearance sign in the window called my name as I almost drove past. I basically took the 30% savings I unexpected got on the red gown and used it for four great dresses there. I went into the dressing room and tried on all four and they all looked spectacular. They are all pull-over the head dresses, soft and completely flatter my figure (I do have a nice posterior, humble brag again). The woman who checked me out and I also had some playful chit-chat. Kindness #8.

Then I got home, a bit frumpy from having dressed and undressed quite a few times over the course of my adventures, but as you can see here…I got her! This dress, if all goes as planned, will be worn to the Plexus holiday party, as long as it is what these parties used to be before they COVID’d them of late. Halter, essentially backless, bright and beautiful. I will wear my silver sparkly pumps, my silver MK clutch, go braless (but not without some help), silver diamond jewelry and accessories and I will float through the night…..

Maybe three hours out of the house. Completely comfortable in my presentation. Not one single person that I engaged with treated me with anything but over-the-top kindness. No interaction was perfunctory. An outing that that is literally as great as it can be for me: better that a photo shoot, better than my church, better that a model gig, better than Keystone, better than a night out with the girls. Why? It was absolute and compete affirmation from people not encountering me in a situation I selected for it’s high probability of acceptance. I was out in the literal general public. I was the only “guy” in two different places and I was treated like the 62 year old woman I wish I were, but am on occasion.

Productive, comfortable, happy, accepted, loved. That is what we call a very good day!