you are so pretty...

...

So...

Today I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store. I’m just chillin and waiting to pay for my groceries so that I can leave. The line that I’m standing in is long but it’s moving pretty fast. There was a man who was in line ahead of me. If I had to take a guess, he’s about 40 yrs old. We made eye contact and gave each other the proverbial "head nod" to say what's up. There was a woman who was standing in line in front of him. At first glance, she looked like she was about 40 yrs old as well.

The woman was very attractive. When she spoke to the cashier, she had a sweet & silky southern drawl.

The dude hears her speaking and immediately looks at me and gives me a look that says "Can you believe how FINE this woman is?"

Could I believe it? Yes. This is Atlanta. You can meet a runway model at 6:15 in a random grocery store. It happens. But back to the story...

I acknowledge his "look" by giving him another head nod that indicated that he probably should say something to her. The guy turns back toward the woman and she turns towards him. Before he could say something, she says "hello" to him.

He froze. I'm not sure why. But he froze for 2 seconds. Then he replied to her

"You are so pretty."

The woman paused...partly because she didn't expect that from him...then she smiled and said "thank you" as she grabbed her items to walk out of the store.

I looked at him and gave him a weird look that said "Is that all that you could come up with?" I knew that he wanted to say something. He could have struck up a conversation. But he fumbled. Badly. And he knew it. He watched her walk out of the store and all that he could do was shake his head. He paid for his groceries and so did I.

As I'm leaving the store, I noticed the woman again. She stopped at the ATM that was outside of the store. But the dude didn't see her.

She grabbed her cash and was walking towards her car. So was I. And so was the dude

As it turned out, we all parked next to each other in the same parking lot row. We were in a line...my car, her car, then his car. So, he STILL has a chance to redeem himself and say something to her. He didn't have to spit a pickup line. Just talk. I'm sure she would have been receptive to him. He reaches his car a few seconds before we get to ours. He looks at her again. She looks at him. He had peeped the personalized license plate tags on her BMW. He looked up and said..

"That's a nice license plate on your car. The name on your plate (ROSE MARY)...is that your name?"

She smiled and replied...

"No, that's my grandmothers name."

She got in her car and drove off.

I could tell that she was somewhat disappointed that he didn't strike up a conversation. Who knows where it could have gone?

Maybe he didn't know what to say. Maybe he was just scared?

He was probably thinking about a "line" to throw at her. Sometimes, you can get in your own way. Especially, if you try to be someone that you're not.

Just be yourself and have a plan as to what you want to say to people. You'll make things a lot easier for yourself