I took my 11 year old daughter shopping this evening. We had a wonderfully 'girly' time looking at make-up and clothes and shoes, etc.

We had stopped to sniff some scented candles when Shea said
"Mom, that guy's looking at you"
I looked up to see the back of a tall, dark young man disappearing around the end of an aisle.

(I have to sideline a bit here. When I say young, I mean young, like late teens to early 20's. I'm 34...so anything under 21 is young to me!)

" You sure?" I asked her.

"Yes" she replied "He was checking you out. It happens all the time, you just hardly ever notice"

"Nah" I said "I don't think so"

"Seriously mom," said Shea "it really does happen all the time. When you were getting your new glasses last week the guy there followed you all over like a lost puppy. Every time you moved, there he was. You didn't notice?"

"Obviously not" I said.

"And at the pool on Sunday. The life guard" (a kid who was probably 16 if he was a day) "was checking you out there too. It's actually kind of embarrassing"

I'm not quite sure how I should react to all of this. On the one hand, I want so bad to be flattered that I'm still attracting attention from the opposite sex, but on the other hand I'm mortified that my daughter sees guys other than my husband checking me out...and I don't even notice it happening! There was a time when I was acutely aware of when I was being 'checked out'...where and how did I lose that? Is it the kind of thing that you lose in your 30's, along with skin elasticity and breast firmness? Does it go away all at once, or does it just kind of waste away over a period of years?

I want to feel flattered - but it feels so wrong!