Tinted Windows

Today we went to the library. As soon as I parked our van, I went to the back of it to nurse Phillip before we went in. We've strategically collapsed one of the middle seats so there is lots of space and it's like a little room on wheels. I have not yet counted all the ways that I love my van. But most assuredly, I LOVE my van. And it's not that it's particularly fancy (though it does have some bells and whistles), it's not brand new, but it suits my needs perfectly and when I drive it I feel happy and thankful and I think it drives really great too! I could go on, really. One perk is that it has tinted windows, which I've never had (except on Jason's truck but that doesn't count.) I thought the major advantage to tinted windows was the shade on the kid's faces, and a slightly cooler car during the half of the year that the sun blasts us all with it's fierce, unrelenting heat. But today as I sat and nursed Phil, and joked around with the kids I was treated with something quite different. So you know, when I sit on the "floor" of the van my head is quite low, and it is altogether possible someone may see my children and not me, and become a concerned Samaritan, and take a closer look upon the inside of our van to confirm or to rest their suspicions. That would be awkward. So I often think about the kind of expressions I would make if that were to happen. Would I give a disarming smile and little wave? Or would I grimace and say, "Get the heck away from my van!" Because you never know what exactly you would do in these instances. It all depends on so many variations of how it could happen. If it was an innocent looking grandma type, or some strange man who looked like a perv, my reactions would be different. Back to my story though, as I sat, a car drove up right next to ours on the passenger side. Oh rats, I thought. A thirty something woman walks out with three men who all were either down syndrome or some other form of special needs. She was obviously a guardian or care giver of some sort taking them on an outing. I tell the kids to be still for a minute to avoid the aforementioned scenario from taking place but too late! The woman walks purposefully closer to my van, comes closer, closer to the window. I feel that she's about to press her nose to it. I look into her eyes and decide upon the the disarming smile and little wave. I keep doing it. It seems to last forever.

And then she fixes her hair. My eyes widen as I realize she doesn't see me, or us! I fight back a snort of a laugh. Her companions are oblivious to anything going on. I continue to look right into her eyes. She fixes her hat. She primps her make up, examines her entire face. She all but flosses. She ends our session with a smile of satisfaction, gathers her charges, and helps one of them light up a cigarette. Hannah and James have perplexed looks while I contemplate how bizarre that moment was in which the tables turned. I had thought my space was about to be (innocently as it was) in a sense violated. But I ended up feeling the violator as I stole this woman's moment of privacy, as she peered into a "mirror"of my tinted windows, hilarious as it was.