Last Updated on May 19, 2022
My husband looked up from the golf tournament he was watching on TV as I emerged from the bedroom, freshly attired for dinner in the Atrium. “Is that a new top?” he asked. “Uh, yes … in 2018,” I responded.
While some gentlemen obviously do take note of the details that we’d like them to notice, the hundreds of similar tales I’ve heard from female friends over the last six or seven decades indicate that many of them do not. However, if I begin to feel invisible or really need a compliment, I know I can take a walk through Charlestown, secure in the knowledge that another female resident will make a nice comment about my hair, clothing or jewelry before I return home.
Males may own the beautiful plumage in the bird world, but in the human universe, it seems to be the females who are hardwired to dress for attention. And Charlestown is populated by alert women who see absolutely everything and aren’t shy about commenting on it. Other women have left their own table in the Fireside to come and tell me how beautifully my jade earrings match my top. Kind strangers have complimented my jackets or asked me where I get my hair cut. And, bless them, several women have quietly pointed out that I am wearing my shirt inside out (or backwards) or have a stain on the back of my sleeve.
Thank you, ladies! You make my day!! And I hope I have cheered you up on occasion as well. Because we apparently cannot always depend on our males to let us know when we look nice … or don’t.
I do, however, still chuckle over a related incident from many years ago: While visiting the grocery store, I noticed another young woman leaning over a frozen food bin with the hem of her skirt tucked into the top of her panties, her legs and backside exposed to the world. As I headed her way to quietly inform her of the display she was presenting to fellow shoppers, a young man hot-footed down the aisle, hurried up to the woman, leaned over to speak into her ear, and covered her exposed buttocks with his jacket. Now there was a husband who was paying attention!
Submitted by Dayle Dawes