I Got Hit On in a Small Town Gas Station

Yes, he worked there and was half my age. Here is how it all went down.

Me: Hi

Him: Hi

Me: (Leaving the restroom) Hi

Him: (Filling the drink cooler) Hey

Me: (Heading to the register with my item) Hi, do you want me over here?

Him: Yes. Is there anything else I can help you find today?

Me: No, thank you.

Him: Do you have a Speedway card?

Me: No

Him: (In a playful tone) Are you sure there is nothing else I can get for you today?

Me: I’m sure, (blushing).

Him: (Undressing me with his eyes) Ok.

This interaction might make me sound desperate. I am a happily married woman with a son probably this guy's age. I was in a town so small that he probably hadn’t seen a woman in ages and was probably just being friendly, but what I realized was the older we get the more we become invisible.

Being younger I was hit on quite often and cat-called. I didn’t always see it as flattering and sometimes I was downright scared, but this little interaction felt good. I felt like I still had it, whatever it is.

I bragged to my husband that I got hit on at the Gas Station the same way he told me got hit on at the market a few months before.

I think especially with Covid the last couple of years many of us have felt unseen. We have been in panic mode and worried about ourselves. We forgot what interactions without masks feel like. We forgot how it feels to be looked at not as a germ, but as a human.

As adults, it’s perfectly normal for us to see someone as attractive. This guy happened to be a mix of Eminem and Macklemore. A little edgy.

I used to be a little more hardcore myself and maybe I was fantasizing about my younger years. He was just the type of guy I would have gone for, but here I am now in my mid-forties and it’s been a while since I’ve been flattered like this by a stranger.

Women's lib is one thing, but today I will just be appreciative of a fun little harmless interaction and remember how good it feels to be seen.

I think about the rush of childhood crushes and a time when life wasn't so much about bills and responsibilities. When life was a free-for-all and relationships could last anywhere from a day to a week. We weren't so tied down by obligations and commitments. We could wake up and see how we felt that day.

Time goes on and our life becomes more mundane with work, children and less time to fantasize and to be free and fun. We become older and no one gives us a second glance, until they do and we realize how much we have missed the feeling of not being invisible.

Our renewed spark takes us out into the world once again with a pep in our step and newfound confidence. I am no longer out in clubs or bars so never feel that familiar excitement of showing up for a night of fun and losing myself in that.

Perhaps I learned that I need to see myself as that confident woman who is free and fearless. I need to feel the way that a man's eyes on me evoked and walk with that same charisma whether anyone notices or not.

We were born to shine and our soul craves joy.

I for one didn't realize how alone I had felt until someone noticed me and was kind. It is a great reminder to look others in the eye and maybe even give them a compliment. This interaction, as small as it was goes to show how many of us may be needing a word of affirmation. I will be more conscious of my interactions with others from here on out, even at the gas station.