Mind of Laura

Every so often, my husband starts a new hobby. This quarter (sorry), his fixation is in collecting coins.

Over the weekend, we visited the local stamp and coin store a few blocks away. Like most small mom-and-pop stores, it has limited hours so we were excited to finally visit a place we’ve only seen as an intriguing, darkened storefront.

I immediately dove into a chest overflowing with used stamps in the center of the store and my husband beelined to the coins counter. A minute or so later, a bespectacled Indian man around my age approaches me and asks if he could rummage the chest too.

I say, “Sure! Of course!” as he pulls up a chair and starts asking me about my stamp collection and if I come by the store often. The internal panic creeps in.

I’m a shy person by nature but as I’ve emerged into adulthood, I’ve developed some skill in casual chit chat with strangers, especially through my work in the airlines.

But also having spent the last several years living in the San Francisco Bay Area, people don’t talk to each other out here. Like, you’re straight-up bothering people if you’re trying to chat them up.

There was also an alarm bell sounding off in my brain, that womanly sense that a man being friendly with you is a danger sign.

When I return his question of what kind of stamps he’s looking for, he says “Oh, my wife and I run a daily blog showcasing stamps that pertain to that day in history,” to which I lit up because what a brilliant idea and whew! he’s taken.

Sometimes I feel I could be conceited because why would I automatically assume he came over because he was interested in me? Maybe he’s just interested in the stamps? Get a grip!

We chat for a little bit longer, him pointing out stamps of interest that he already owns and I point out some cool ones I find. Then my husband hovers over and asks how I’m doing, leading for me to wrap up soon.

As we leave the store with collectable goodies in hand, these thoughts pass through my mind. I know I’m not alone on them but in each instance, you feel as if you’re in fight-or-flight mode.