One is the Magic Number

When people travel alone or dine alone, do you see them, or are they immediately rendered invisible because they're alone?

I suppose I should offer some explanation. I have always thought this, some times more than others, but sometimes it comes right back.

On a certain Saturday afternoon so many moons ago, mid afternoon sometime around 4 pm, I was craving food of any kind, something spicy with onions (don't ask) and I also had to go grocery shopping, so I drive to my local large chain supermarket and there are a couple of restaurants beside it. A Mexican restaurant, some local eateries and a hot wings cafe. So I pick the hot wings place, good choice, you would think. I get there and it's rowdy, smoke all over the place (even though there is a no smoking ban in all eating places) and there's a big screen with a game showing, Georgia vs. Tennessee (I figured that from the uniforms).

I sit on a stool beside the bar, (the bar is packed full to the teeth, this was the best and only chair I could find for one person) and no one says a word to me. The waiters pass by and help people around me, but they don't in the least bit stop for a second to look at me. I mean it is obvious I have not been helped. The people around do not call their attention to me and I am too aggravated by the noise, the smoke and the general dysfunction of the place to care enough to ask them for assistance. I just grab my magazine and casually walk out of there. Just my luck that the Mexican restaurant was empty because the food was horrible. But that other place, just made me think, this is not working. I don't know if it's because I travel alone, or I look all quiet and shy, or I am just simply me. It just seems impossible to get people to stop and pay attention, especially when you're alone. It's like the fact that you're alone just renders you transparent, like a blank space, and no one sees, no one pays attention, and to a certain point you start to feel as if no one cares. 

Are we in a society that only recognizes people in pairs or groups? I would hate to think so. Like Jill Scott rightly said: There's just me. One is the Magic Number.

We didn't show up in this world in pairs - not unless you're a twin, triplet, etc. But even that, you had to be pulled out one baby at a time. So why can't I enjoy my self, my own company and still be noticed, recognised, adored and respected? Why can't I, me, be the "magic number"?

Next time you see someone by sitting alone, stop look, pay attention...and if possible, strike up a conversation with that person.  That person is celebrating him/her self. Are you? Do you know how much gumption it takes to take on life solo, attend parties, travel, go to the movies, even dine publicly alone? So why would you bypass them as if they don't matter?

In the end, don't we all just want to be noticed?

Did you see me? Or where you lost wondering why I had succumbed to being a lost soul?
I was the one in the dress. The bright red one with the slits that reflected the sin so pale, so worn from the scales that you cannot imagine. And I walked with a certainty that is only known to the proud. But the wind blew me away, to a place far away. And I fell. And I hurt. And I cried. And I wondered:

Why, why can’t you see me? I had worn this dress for you. For you I said. This is the day that you see me. That I can tell you. This is me.

Did you see me? Or where you lost in the gaze that my determined face had put you? I wish you could see me. Because here I am.

And I see you.