We Turn Heads

Saturday, Emma and I rose early to go to the farmer's market in Houston.  The good stuff sells out quickly, so we wanted to get there by 8.  The weather was beautiful, and the forecast said the temperature would get up into the seventies.  Somehow we both felt festive, and independently of each other, we decided to wear hats.

We got lots of comments at the market.

"You look like Spring/Easter."

"The hat ladies.  Love it!"

"You look so pretty!"

We felt like we cheered up a lot of people that morning.

What we didn't find at the market, we got at a nearby Whole Foods.  I noticed there that people didn't give a second glance to the guy with the really scary long black hair or the one with the freaky tattoo all over his neck, but they stared at us.  At the checkout, the girl looked us over and asked cautiously, "Uh, so you got somewhere special to go today?"

"No," I answered.

"You're not from Houston, are you?" she asked, leaning a little closer as if looking for clues to our mysterious origin.

At this, I just about burst out laughing.  There were people within a few feet of her who looked like they might be from another planet, but Emma and I filled her with insatiable curiosity.

This wasn't the first time that we've gotten this kind of reaction.  On her recent (18th) birthday, Emma and four traditional Catholic girlfriends went shopping at Kroger to get ingredients for pizza.  They weren't wearing hats or anything particularly special, just skirts and blouses.  One person stopped them and asked them where they were from.  The girls gave their respective hometowns.  "You're from AMERICA!" the person exclaimed, astounded.

Wow!  Even I was surprised by that one.

During that same Kroger shopping excursion, a young woman approached the girls and, addressing each girl in turn, said, "I like your skirt and your skirt and your skirt and your skirt.  I like all y'alls' skirts!"  Then she walked away happily and announced exuberantly, "PENTECOSTALS ROCK!"