Beach. Body.
Strange encounter with a stranger on Sunday. Two days later and I'm still thinking about it. I'm thinking about my feelings about it which range from narcistic pleasure to shuddering dismay.
After my swim on Sunday I realized I'd forgotten to bring a towel. Fortunately it was a warm day out at the beach by Crissy Field so the sun could dry me. I stripped off my wetsuit, left it in the plastic bin in my car and walked over to sit on the cement pony wall along the beach. I was only wearing my tri shorts and a hat and sunglasses.
I'd just sat down when I hear, "You have a great body!"
I turn and there's a lady my mother's age and a young girl, maybe 20 years old, standing behind me. The older woman was the one who had spoken. I nod and thank her. The younger woman sort of meets my eye but then looks over my shoulder at the ocean. Her grandmother (I would later learn) takes a long drag on her cigarette and exhales the smoke out of the corner of her mouth. A practiced move. Her hair is grey and scraggly, the latter probably due to the salt air.
"Do you workout?" she asks. Loudly.
"I swim." I gesture towards the shoreline the water. "Just finished a swim this morning."
"In that?" Her gaze runs over my body and I feel vaguely underdressed even though I am at the beach. The granddaughter spares me a glance before again pretending her grandmother and I are not conversing.
"You wear a wetsuit, don't you?" With a drag and exhale, Grandma persists in her questioning.
"Yes. Even in the summer."
"What else do you do?"
"Uhhh." (I am trying to figure out how I came to be talking to this woman and how to stop without being rude.) "Mostly just swimming."
"You got those legs from swimming?" Smoke runs out her nose. Classy.
She presses on. "I watched you walk over here and you have good muscles on your legs. I could see them flex."
"Yeah, swimming. Some weightlifting." I'm mumbling by now. Granddaughter still looking anywhere but at me or her grandmother.
Why am I answering these questions? Who is this scraggly haired crazy lady? Why is she the one giving me these compliments? Why couldn't I catch the eye of that tatted up queen sitting on the Georgia O'Keefe beach towel instead of Mrs. Marlboro here?
I almost started laughing at the absurdity of this conversation. A real life encounter with a cougar, perhaps? Is she hitting on me? That doesn't happen too often, never has, even when I was younger. Wait until I tell my partner this story. He's usually the one these things happen to.
We exchange a few more words and they walk off.
I'm flattered that I was noticed, but I am bothered by the fact that I am flattered. And I am bothered that I am bothered. Like I say, if it had been that older dude with the ink and badly dyed hair (and gay, I'm guessing, since he was sporting a tramp stamp), I would have been kinda psyched to learn he noticed my (evidently) muscular legs. But to have a woman of my mother's generation come on to me felt very weird at some level. We're getting beyond cougar territory to downright elderly here.
I mean, no one can control who is and isn't attracted to them. I know that. Part of me was put off by the fact that someone who is the polar opposite of my "type" came on to me and that I was shallow? enough to be pleased. What does that say for my self-esteem?
Part of me was confronted by my age. It drove home the fact that I have reached an age where old (almost elderly) women hit on me. In front of their granddaughters. I don't think she would have stopped and talked to me if I had been in my 20s or 30s. Something about being older made me approachable. Did she see me as a contemporary? This concerns me. And my reaction makes me concerned that I might not be willing to age gracefully.
Two days later I am still amused and appalled. And a little flattered. I need to find something else to think about.
- 10
7 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now