I sat in my car and allowed myself to breathe, concentrating on the slow intake and exhalation. I told myself that it’s just a grocery store. All these people were there on their own ordinary business; corralling children, struggling to remember lists that were never actually written down. They wouldn’t care about me and they wouldn’t take any notice of me at all. I checked myself in the mirror and for once saw an attractive young woman with long blond hair and sparkling jade eyes. With this final affirmation, I opened the car door, grabbed my purse and strode forward with purpose.
I was a woman on a mission and no staring passers-by would deter me from my goal. I wished it were something more lofty than milk and coffee but I’d been coming to find that even the smallest chore was a significant hurdle. Everyday life is much harder when you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for some fool with an inflated sense of self-importance to call me into question; to make my identity a subject for public debate.