The Invisible Years

Lately I’ve been telling my friends that I’m in my invisible years. I used to get some nice attention and, well, it felt pretty good. If you’re a woman you know what I’m talking about. Not the “Hey, blond hair!” or “Hey, shirt!” kind of attention, but just a nod now and again, a wink maybe (though even that feels a bit creepy as I write about it) or a nice smile and a bit of conversation. "Nice" attention. I’ve noticed that slowly, ever so slowly, I don’t really get that any more. I walk around invisible. My friends shake their heads. “There is no way you could be invisible. You are very noticeable.” They’re all pretty young and very kind.

            Not that I mind it really. I can go about my business. I can act all older and wiser and stuff like that. I get to decide if someone gets my attention instead of the other way around. I begin the conversation or comment. Sometimes I get a smile. Other times people just walk away. It is what it is, as I hear said time and again.

            But this all changed when I rented The Convertible. Seems as though it doesn’t matter your age, when you drive a snazzy, snappy car with the top down you are the bomb. I would get waves and nods and great big smiles. People would ask, “Is that your car?” when I parked it outside a coffee shop. Jeez Louise! It was just a car! But it was white and bright and it drove really fast. It had the most amazing pickup of any car I’ve ever driven. Did I enjoy this? I have to say I did, to a point. Mostly I thought it was way funny when I strung a clothes line in the backseat to dry my underthings while I traveled the roads of Indiana and Ohio. It seemed a bit irreverent and out of character for a car with such personality, a car that was not invisible at all. I also pulled it back and drove the speed limit going through small towns because I knew, I just knew, this little white convertible would catch someone’s eye really easily. I just prayed that in the off chance I was stopped for speeding that I could revert to my invisible self again. At this stage of the game it’s my super power.