I don’t know what it is, but since I got married in 2002, I’ve seen more and more interracial couples that look like me and mine. It’s sort of like when you get a new car–you don’t really notice how many people drive around with the same model and then it seems like EVERYONE has that blue Honda Pilot, and you really aren’t as special as you thought you were, are you? AND finding the one that yours in a crowded parking lot is like finding someone wearing their real hair at a weave convention.

Is it honing perception, or have more black women getting their swirl on? Yep. They are. By a whopping 9 percent! WOOO! Piddly; yes. But it’s up from 4 percent since, well, the last time they checked.

And when I see them, I try really, really, really, really hard not to stare. Mainly because staring can be easily misinterpreted as judgement, which of course, I don’t want to give off that vibe…for obvious reasons. In fact, I try super-duper hard not to appear to look at all, which is even MORE awkward, because instead of just walking passed a black women with a rain-beau man and a baby with a shock of kinky blond hair at Target or Wal*Mart, I turn the corner into the aisle of waffle irons and toasters, pretending to weigh out the benefits of home-made waffles versus Eggos. And even though Swirl Couple doesn’t know I would never, ever subject myself to the extra work of handmade waffles I still pretend…for their benefit.

In an earlier post, Lisa Miles Brady, host of lisa-unmasked.com, gives a wink and a smile–that “you go girl with your swirling self” sort of look, but I’m afraid if I do it, I’ll look like I have a nervous tick, because I can’t wink worth a crap.

Who else does this?