I am not ugly. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing knock-down drag-out about my looks, but when I’m done up with all my store-bought beauty products, I can hold my own. Usually.
So the other day my sister Jen and I stopped by to visit with our father while he was out and about. He was conducting business with an old friend, an elderly gent, easily in his late seventies.
I’m a friendly girl. Stick me in a room with thirty strangers, and I’ll have them all Koom-By-Ya-ing in twenty minutes.
My sister? Not the same kind of friendly. More like, sit-you-down-and-help-you-fix-your-life-in-one-intense-conversation friendly. And when it comes to meeting new people, she’s been known to clam up completely.
So I’m standing there with my clammy sister, who’s totally oblivious to the nice manners we were raised with, and our dad introduces us to his friend.
“Hi!” I say with a big smile, “I’m Annie.” Jen gazes off into the rafters, subconsciously avoiding eye contact.
“Well, hello,” he responds to me, with a whopping level two on the enthusiasm scale.
Okay, I think, I’m sure it’s not me. He probably can’t hear me that well anyway. Forging ahead, I keep my smile in place and turn slightly to my left in an attempt to introduce my dud of a sister. Following my gaze, he glances over and gets a good look at her.
“Oh!” he says, as shock and awe pass through him, along with a long-forgotten wave of testosterone. Lighting up like a Christmas tree, he reverently takes Her Magesty by the hand. “Well…aren’t you just…beautiful!”
Now I admit, it wasn’t my best day. I wasn’t what you’d consider dressed to impress, but it’s not like I’d had a visit with the ugly stick either. Then there’s the fact that with the exception of our opposite hair colors, my sister and I LOOK EXACTLY ALIKE.
Let me tell you, it’s amazing how quickly she can focus. In .2 seconds she was all eye lashes and teeth, battering away at him with her wolf-like beauty.
He wiped the drool off his chin and casually glanced back to me. I think I startled him out of his love-sick trance with my homely gaze.
“Uh…” he says, “You’re both…pretty.”
Wow. Don’t I feel special.
What a dickhead! He obviously was NOT taught good manners as a child!
Maybe he’s just a fan of brunettes? And has a lack of tact. Definitely lacks tact.
I’m guessing he doesn’t like blondes. Because you are both amazingly gorgeous!
Right up there with the time recently where I’d gone a few days sans makeup and then when I put some on, my dear 6 yr-old informed me I no longer looked scary.
I can completely relate to this. I am the “not as pretty” sister. My older sister is beautiful and friendly. I was always shy and kind of out of sync with everyone else. As an adult I am heavier and paler than my sis. I have learned to live with it over the years.
I’m always kind of confused when people glance between my sister and I, frown, and then say, “You don’t look at all alike.” So? Why must they frown when they say that? Is that BAD for one of us? And if so, which one?
I don’t even know what to say to that. Except “ouch!”
WOW! Now I don’t feel so bad for being the quiet one of my sisters now. Really, I do think you are pretty. 🙂
And then you kicked him in the shin and ran away.
Oh. My. Heck. JERK!! Haha, some people, seriously. That is very interesting though considering you look alike. Makes no sense.
Some people need to learn manners… and people skills 🙂
I think I’m a dork because I couldn’t figure out how to comment on this post yesterday…. where was the darn button? Whatever. Anyway, this reminds me of how when I would come home from college for the summer, well-meaning “adults” at church would talk to my girlfriends and I in the hall and say things (to them) like, “you’re just turning into such a beautiful young woman. I can’t believe one of those boys hasn’t snatched you up.” Then they’d turn to me and say, “and I hear you’re doing well in school. That’s wonderful.” Um, Thanks (jerk).
Annie, it’s just cuz you’re an “in-your-face-gorgeous-with-personality-that-doesn’t-require-pulling-you-out-of-your-shell” kind of girl. O-K-got-it? 8^)
Sorry but I just think this is funny.
I know you (and your total self confidence) too well to be worried about your fragile psyche.
But you are pretty.
Laughed from beginning to end. And blushed over the fact that my post today starts with the exact same sentence as yours.
I’m totally cracking up – – but I’m trying to keep the laughter down as not to wake my sleeping children. I’m totally the clammy, subconsiously avoiding eye contact type of person. However, 70 year old men don’t make comments on my beauty…