inappropriate commentary

these three things together:

1. a random stranger

2. something that is a totally personal and private matter

3. them feeling the need to explain it to you

it always confuses me. probably because it takes me a year to tell even my best of friends some things. i'm a private person. i always have been.

except for one time. and this one time involved me having a mental break down. and gallons of alcohol. but the people i encounter that do this - this inappropriate outburst to a randomized population - they're sober.

at least as far as i know.

recent example:

to set the scene, i'm at guitar center. it is around 5 pm on a saturday. i'm waiting at the service counter (my guitar needed new strings and the battery to the electric box was loose - which i will pay a $10 repair fee for them to slide it back into place. $10. ten. dollars. to slide it back into place. no, i'm not still bitter. bitter would be to kind of a word.). there is a man and woman in front of me at the counter. the are about mid-40s. the man is waiting patiently while the woman receives her newly strung instrument and strums until she decides she is satisfied. they are polite to one another, but no other hints to their relationship. siblings? friends? lovers? husband and wife? ...band mates? the man takes his wallet out to pay the bill, as the woman tells a funny story about what they had done that day (not really funny. just funny to her.). then she explains that she had paid for their lunch earlier, which was why he was paying the bill now. so... dating?

she's looking from me to the repair guy the whole time. i smile politely and chime in when i have to with an "ahh" and "ohh, uh-huh". and then she says this:

"We're much better friends now since the divorce." she's referring to her and the man with her. she's referring to her and her ex-husband. her ex-husband she just spent the entire day with and who is now paying for her new strings. her ex-husband she had to divorce in order to continue a relationship with - a friendship. her ex-husband who is now her best friend. who goes to lunch with her, and plants flowers with her. who fixes the kitchen sink for her. who goes bowling with her. who drives her to the airport when she's going out of town. ok, i made most that last stuff up, but that's what was going through my head.

and she's smiling. there may have even been a "ha-ha" added to the end of her sentence. but her eyes are now searching for my reaction in panic.

i'm dumbfounded. my face is blank. uhhhh what the hell?? "yeah......," i start saying, and then a few long seconds later i add, "well, sometimes that happens...." but does it?

"ha yep," she responds. then she gets quiet, and slightly crabby with the ex-hubby/new bff (probably trying to hurry him up to get the f out of there).

....why did she just tell me that?

sudden outbursts like this only lead me to one conclusion: you feel like people are judging you, and you give a damn. and if you give a damn what people are thinking of you, that leads me to two conclusions: you don't think to highly of yourself or you're feeling guilty. ...or you're in high school, but this obviously wasn't the case here.

maybe the reason she said this to me was because she just likes to share. but maybe she said this because she wasn't to confident in her current situation. and honestly, it sounds kind of weird to me - so maybe she shouldn't be.