hot latin...something!

"You have a nice body," she purrs as I relax following a set of bicep curls at the small gym this morning. Her Spanish-flavored accent is punctuated by a flip of her telenovela-type hair that any woman would die for. "Do you work out every day?"

"No," I say, "I have two children, I'm really lucky to just get here twice or perhaps three times a week." I feel awkward, sweaty, disgustingly gross in front of such a petite latin beauty queen was most likely simply blessed with skinny genes and marvelous hair.

It's so funny. The last time my body was commented upon in such a manner was by a lesbian gym teacher in the 7th grade. That is an incredibly formative time in any young girl's life as one deals with so many hormonal and body changes, and what could possibly be a most innocent comment can end in creating self esteem and self-image issues. That comment, for some reason, made at that time did not do me much good (perhaps having to do with the ribbing to which I fell victim from the rest of my friends following gym class that day), and memories of that encounter of almost 25 years ago flooded my mind for the remainder of this morning.

I don't feel like I look bad, and I am not fishing for compliments because I do not need them. However, the question remains: Why is it never a hot Latin hunk with great hair, a beautiful body and a musky scent who wants to whisk me away forever and... well, you know the rest of the story.

No, that would be too good to be true, even in the best of the telenovelas that Univisión can offer...and I'm probably too old and would be too scared, anyway! Now, maybe in my past life...!