Strong Face

8 months ago

Don't worry, I'm not going to post a picture of my mug on here, but I wanted to tell this story because it caught me off guard and that so rarely happens. 

This morning at the gym, I was relaxing in the hot tub, letting the hot (okay, warm) water relax my muscles after a moderately intensive workout. Sometimes I enjoy a light workout, sometimes a very intense once, but this morning I just wasn't feeling it, so I met somewhere in the middle, which is far more often than I want to admit out loud. 

I was sitting in the corner, like I always do, watching a YouTube on the origins of Hallowe'en (some of which I disagree with on technical aspects and some of which I found thought provoking) when a younger woman enters the hot tub. I hadn't seen her at the gym before and definitely hadn't seen her in the hot tub before this morning, so I thought perhaps she was new to this particular gym. I said, "Hi," and she took the corner across from me, about 8 feet. the distance isn't really relevant, I'm just showcasing that she didn't sit closer as though she wanted to engage in conversation.

A few minutes later an older woman joins her in the hot tub. Again, I wasn't particularly interested in conversing as I was paying attention to the video I was watching. Then, out of the blue, the elder woman asks me, "Are you Russian?"

This caught me off guard. I hadn't spoken, so she couldn't have guessed anything by my accent and I'm not particularly sure how to tell Russian men apart from any other white guy. I mean, they're a bit goofier looking as a whole, but that's it. I replied, "No. I'm just good old fashioned American."

She laughed, then followed up, "Are you sure you're not Russian?"

"Yep, I'm just American. My family's from Florida."

Then she says, "You have strong features. I would have thought you were Russian."

"Well, in America, we're all kind of mutts, so I guess we can look like anyone."

She chuckled and the younger woman said something to her that I couldn't make out over the sound of the jets. The older woman started asking me more questions, "What do you do?" (I'm a student), "How old are you?" (47), "Are you married?" (No), and "Do you have kids?" (also, no). All the while the younger woman is saying something to her that I just can't make out due to her soft spokenness and the noise of the hot tub's jets.

At this point I'm wondering if she's trying to play matchmaker. Why all the personal questions? She then says, "Well, you're too young for me, you're closer to her age." The younger woman, now on the spot seemed about ready to run. "She has three kids, though."

Three? Honestly, I didn't think she looked old enough to have three kids. "Her husband died 5 years ago."

The younger woman spoke up then, telling the older woman not to tell personal information. 

The conversation changed after that and we ended up talking about the need for older people to stay active and engaged and people with children to have some alone time. Shortly thereafter they left. 

Was the woman trying to set me up with her friend/daughter? Honestly, I don't know what relationship they have. Was it just an older woman being nosy and sharing too much information? Did the younger woman mentioned something to her friend about me being attractive? That would be cool, but there's nothing hotter for a man than to be told you find him attractive. It happened quite a few times before I aged and put on weight, and it always works. 😉

Anywho, I just wanted to share because the experience was so random. I talk to strangers all the time, and yet, to be told I have "strong features" and am "nicely built" was odd. Not scary, not anxiety inducing, just odd. I'm not that good looking. 

In fact, the last time a conversation happened like that, was in 2018, I was at the gym (a different gym) and it was a guy who told me that, then asked if I wanted to hang out since he was new to Denver. He randomly texts me asking for body shots and offering sexual encounters. I thought he'd get the hint because whenever he says these things I just stop engaging, but I finally had to tell him I'm not gay. He still asked for a photo of me. (This happened last weekend)