Coffee Shop Gossip

I sit outside a coffee shop reading with my girl. A middle aged woman, overly tan for the first week of may, in a pair of shorts much more fitting for someone twenty years her junior, steps out of a car and walks towards the front door. As she reaches the threshold, she pauses mid step. I wonder what she possibly could be doing in such an awkward posture. However, my fiance informs me that she is straining her ear to listen to our conversation. What she heard must have disappointed her. We were reading from the book of Peter.

I sit inside a coffee shop typing on my laptop. Across the room sits a middle aged woman, overly tan for this time of year and speaking in hushed tones with a an overweight woman in her twenties. As I observe, I hear, "So Jan and Rob broke up, huh? I never would have thought!" The look on her wrinkled face is reminiscent of those overly tan girls back in high school... minus the wrinkles. She sits and talks and talks about high school events, i.e. "I can't believe they canceled the J.V. game! There were so many cute high school boys I could have flirted with."

As I sit here, I realize, first, this is quite a disgusting ritual. Sit at the coffee house, eat a black bean salad (gotta watch out for cottage cheese thighs) and mingle with the lives of a couple of teenagers. Poor kids. They have enough things to worry about (and be insecure of) than wondering what Mrs. Jones is talking about. Why does she care? What is her reason? Are these just the activities of a bored, middle-aged housewife?

Or does this do something for her? In a sad, strange way, does all this tanning and being in the know with Jr. High drama make her feel young? Why not embrace your age, and use the things you have learned in your life to help better the younger generation, rather than gossiping about them. Of course, if you've been living in high school for the last thirty years, there probably is little help you can offer.