The elephant in my room needs to be more careful with her makeup remover...
I've enjoyed re-reading most of this thread this morning over coffee. What a wonderful conversation and exchange of feelings and ideas.
But now for a new wrinkle.
This "elephant" theory has a lot to do with pushing the envelope and that intersection of the female & male parts of our lives. Well a few weeks ago I went out on a weekday. It was a long and wonderful day and I did not return home until well after midnight, having to go to work the next morning. I took off my makeup and went to sleep. The next morning I did my usual routine including washing my face and skincare. I looked in the mirror and noticed that my eyes looked different, they looked better, really cool actually. But at that moment I couldn't really place why this was. I knew I didn't wear eyeliner the day before so it wasn't like I had that raccoon-eye thing going on. I just left well enough alone and went to work.
At the end of the day, this woman comes into my office and takes a seat. We were talking for all of 30 seconds when she says...
You're wearing mascara, aren't you???
To which I calmly replied, "no, I'm not".
The exchange over the next minute (which felt like an hour) was along the lines of "yes you are" / "no I'm not, I'm tired but I'm NOT wearing mascara" / "don't you be turning gay on me" / "please" etc etc etc.
Whether the conversation ended to her satisfaction that her perception was somehow incorrect, I cannot say to this day. Looking back, I wonder if others noticed something and put her up to this "inspection". Her and I go back about 8 years or so. I hired her and we're actually friends outside of work, her family and mine. She has no filter either so she may have simply done this on her own. Time will tell but I was not remotely tempted to use this as a means to out myself at work. Best to let my elephant continue her existence.
And by the way, as I was leaving work I looked into my rearview mirror and said to myself "holy s#*t, you ARE wearing mascara" as I pulled on my lashes and had black all over my fingers.
Moral of the story, be very careful with that makeup remover, lest your elephant might become that much more noticeable.