Stealth Sterling

One thing that I've noticed throughout my life is that I have the ability to sneak up on people without trying. There have been quite a few times where I've begun to walk into a room and stopped to look at the TV. People don't notice me until they randomly turn around and are surprised to see me standing there.

These incidents usually happen when I'm at home. I'm always surprised that people are shocked to see me because our house is quite small. If my sister and I are in the living room and my dad is in his bedroom laughing, we can hear him. If music is played in the basement, you can usually hear it upstairs. When the washing machine, dryer, or sump pump is on, the sound permeates the house. However, despite this, I can somehow walk into a room (and out of a room) and not be noticed.

These "stealth" abilities I have aren't just limited to our house. On Thursday, my dad went into Borders to look for me since I told him I'd be there when he came to pick me up from work. However, I was completely unaware of this and I didn't find out until I called his cell phone to find out where he was. He told me that he spent nearly 10 minutes walking around Borders looking for me to no avail. He even said he stood at the front of the store waiting for me for five minutes, figuring that I would see him. I was really surprised that he could somehow manage to miss me. The Borders he picked me up from wasn't a particularly large one (it's all on one level) and I didn't go into any of the nooks and crannies of the store. I stayed relatively close to the front of the store once I figured that my dad was on his way. Somehow, I had inadvertently avoided him even though he called himself "looking everywhere" for me.

Ultimately, I guess I inherited this "stealth" ability from my dad. He too has the ability to sneak up or hide at times. I mean...I didn't see him once during my time in Borders even though he "looked" for me. And there have been times where it has taken me quite a while to find him in stores like Best Buy. Plus, he has been able to sneak up and mess with my sister a couple of times. The strange thing about this is that my dad and I aren't exactly the quietest (or the most discreet) people. He is kind of clumsy (he's dropped his fair share of things on the floor) and I have a pretty loud speaking voice sometimes. How either of us could be stealthy is a mystery for the ages.