Few people like to think of themselves as one among thousands, an invisible personality indistinguishable from all of those who surround her.  Now that I consider myself a creative type, I like to believe that I’m a singular individual who has something distinctive to offer the world.  My thoughts are unique, my kids are unique and no one’s mind works exactly like mine.

Time for a reality check.

I can try to be as unique as I want, but life provides reminders that in some ways, I’m not only part of a group, but I’m smack in the center of a group that has been targeted, analyzed and successfully marketed to, and it’s about to happen again.  There I am, pushing my blue shopping cart with the gummy toddler safety straps through Toys R Us when Steve Perry starts serenading me about his “Open Arms.”  I know his crooning is aimed right at me.  I can’t deny that highly paid marketers are firing my senior prom theme song straight at the heart of countless women my age to render us teary-eyed with nostalgia so that we’ll feel comfortable remaining in the store a while longer and handing over a bit more of our money.  

And what about those Olympics ads NBC has been running reminding us that all of the medal-winning, awe-inspiring athletes owe their success to their hard-working moms?  Yup, aimed right in my direction.  As a mom, I’ve now internalized the relationship between maternal labors and parental pride, so I see those ads, swallow the lump in my throat and acknowledge that all I need to do is buy the right laundry detergent, and in ten to fifteen years my children will not only win medals, but they’ll thank me when they stand on the podium. 

I try not to fit into too many molds, but sometimes I can’t escape the fact that I’m an overeducated, forty-something, soccer-and-ballet mom of two.

Those common demographic categories are one thing.  But imagine my surprise when I learned that there’s a whole new demographic for women like me, and his name is Timothy Hutton.

Yes, that’s right: THE Timothy Hutton.  Ordinary People, Falcon & the Snowman, Taps—you know the one.  It turns out that @TimHutton  (What?  You don’t speak Twitter yet?) is prince of a whole demographic of literary-minded women who are devoted to his intellectual musings, his sensitive-guy portraits and his current television show, Leverage.  And I’m one of them.

It began innocently enough.  I started watching Leverage because a friend writes for it.  That’s it.  There was no sighing, no mooning over Hutton or anyone else on the show.  It’s about thieves and other criminals, and stuff blows up on a semi-regular basis.  It’s not the type of show I usually watch.  But I believe in supporting people I know and like, and anything written by someone who falls into that category will always rate a chance or two in my book.

Leverage, as it turned out, was good.  The premise is intriguing, the plots intelligent with twists that aren’t always predictable and the show actually includes character development, which for me is the silky-textured, melt-in-your-mouth, sweet dark chocolate of any media.  So now I’m a fan.

And, as it turns out, a classic Timothy Hutton groupie.

An article at The Daily Beast last month characterized Hutton’s female following, drawn to his sex appeal and to his consistently thoughtful literary discussions on Twitter.  Both of these qualities have bled through to many of the characters the actor has portrayed over the years.  Certain women are drawn to this type of man, and he’s tweeting with many of the most literary-minded of them on a regular basis.  With regard to Hutton’s followers, the article stated, “Many of Hutton’s thoughtful, sensitive-guy characters have felt custom-made for a bookish girl folded into the corner bench of a local coffee shop, devouring novels and—just maybe—penning one of her own.”

Sound like anyone you know?

Apparently, there’s a whole demographic of women like me out there, and we all revolve around Timothy Hutton.

I suppose if I’m going to be one in a crowd, women who go for “thoughtful, sensitive-guy characters” and love books so much that they may even be writing their own is a respectable crowd to be in.  It’s not that I object to the more typical forty-something groupings, mind you—my wide-eyed excitement at hearing Men at Work’s “Land Down Under” on the radio last week as my eight-year-old son rolled his eyes leaves me unable to deny certain herd realities.  It’s just amusing to discover that I’m part of a whole family of sisters in literary love, and our common link is an actor, who, I’m somewhat abashed to admit, would be a perfect choice to portray one of the main characters in my novel-in-progress. 

So now that I know about @TimHutton, have I become one of his followers?  You bet.  I’d be a fool to ignore someone so ideal for me. 

But I’ll only go so far.  After all, it’s not like I sit around wondering if or when he’ll follow me back.  Oh no, not at all.