Bags or Circles?

 

I remember being mortified as a child when my mother would strike up conversations with complete strangers. We’d be out somewhere shopping and the next thing I knew she’d be sharing observations or worse – some kind of comment about me.

          Life experience has made me realize this is a particularly female behavior. Yesterday there I was in CVS peering at the long rack of gift cards from every conceivable store except of course the one I was looking for. I was about to give up when I heard, “Could you help me?”

          A woman with white hair in a tidy bun and a nice smile was holding up a small bottle of anti-wrinkle retinol lotion that promised to eradicate eye bags and who knew what else.

          I said of course, and she asked, “Do I have bags under my eyes or just dark circles?”

          I contemplated her face, a pleasant face with very few noticeable wrinkles and excellent skin.

          “No, I think you just have dark circles. I have the same problem, but nothing ever works for me.” I went on to confess that I’m not one of those people who frequents fancy cosmetic stores, tending to buy mine in the grocery or drug store, so I was definitely no expert.

          Her own confession was that she’d had dark circles so long that she’d worn makeup to bed on her wedding night. I also learned that she did some acting on the side and was 74.

          We laughed at ourselves and parted.

          We met again at the self-checkout where she and the clerk were trying to sort out whatever had gone kaflooey with the machine. With a few chuckles they solved it and I said goodbye to her with, “You two are having way too much fun there.”