Can You Ever Really Be Incognito?

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time deciding what to wear every day.   I would painstakingly pick out the perfect outfit the night before.  Looking back now, it’s amazing I had any time to play!  And looking back at old pics, it’s amazing I ended up putting together so many goofy outfits.  What was I thinking??  In the end, does it really make a big difference how much time you spend choosing what to wear?

Apparently it doesn’t, at least in my case.  When it comes to choosing clothes to wear now, I literally grab the first thing I see and usually have no idea when I last wore it.  And chances are pretty good that I wore it recently.  I have my favorite items of clothing, and I grab them when I’m in a hurry, which is most of the time.  If I could wear a pair of jeans, a tee, and flip flops every single day, I would.  At the beach, it’s a bathing suit (of course!), baseball cap, and sunglasses.  I’m pretty much incognito at the beach, and usually that’s a good thing.

Last week I met up with an old friend on the boardwalk.  For some reason, I decided to put on a bandana instead of a baseball cap.  My daughter helped me, since I had no clue how to wear a bandana.  I wasn’t sure if it looked ridiculous, but I figured it might be fun to try something new.  Besides, other than my friend, I was sure I wouldn’t see anyone I knew.  So I met my friend, who just smiled when she saw me.  Maybe she was laughing to herself, but I didn’t mind.  No one would notice me.  It was actually cool, not worrying about how I looked.  Then we went into one of our favorite shops, and we were trying on flip flops (which is always fun!).  And I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘Good thing I don’t know anyone here.’  And just then as I was joking about something, a woman I had never met recognized my voice and said, “I know you!”  I just laughed and said, “Yeah, it’s me.  But today I’m incognito.”  :)