"I'm not dead yet!"
"Solitude" by way of Ellington
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If you are next to me for more than a nanosecond and you look friendly, I will probably talk to you. Being that I love peeking into everyone else’s life, I will always try to strike up conversations with people who look even remotely interesting to me.
There is some social awkwardness in standing in line with a bunch of strangers that seems to beg for someone to break the ice. More often than not, the person who precipitates that would be me. I may compliment your outfit, your handbag, your shoes, your eyes, your hair and the conversation seems to flow fairly easily from there.
You can see it in the eyes of the people who aren’t front and center; they will lean forward and try to catch what you’re saying. Although this is prompted more often than not by curiosity, I think secretly everyone wants to be asked how they’re doing so they can feel appreciated.
A corollary to this, of course, is The Rule of Blue Button-Down Shirts. And not just any shade of blue either; it’s this specific shade of cobalt, electric blue that’s calculated to drive me wild. Classic examples of this would include my following this gorgeous young businessman off of the elevator at the Toronto Westin hotel and the time I nearly missed my flight out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport because a similarly-striking young man walked my way.
More likely than not, I will stop them with a smile or a gentle touch on their arm and I will tell them that they are the best-looking thing I will see all day long and the change that comes over them is interesting. For that small, sincere kindness I’ve been bought drinks, dinner, shows, et al, and met lots of lovely, interesting men.
I think the good doctor and I may be sitting down to a nice pot of tea and plate of scones at Greyfriar’s for a fierce game of Scrabble, provided he can be torn away from the demands of his profession. Because, quite truthfully, I am so sick and tired of the vagaries of dating that just being able to meet one guy who isn’t going to bullshit me and can occasionally kick my ass via triple word scores wouldn’t be so bad.