Forever Young

Let me start out this post by saying that I think I look--and feel--my age or older--T-Man and Fearless have even commented on my wrinkles (gotta love the honesty of kids!) but to those who do not know me, I apparently look much younger. When I was the YW President and worked with the teenage girls at my church, another leader thought that I was one of the teenage girls. To top that, one of the teenage boys thought I was a teenager as well! A few weeks ago, I did a garage sale, and as I chatted with people, many said they were surprised I had 3 kids and that I didn't look that old. I will probably appreciate this as I get older, but right now, it just causes some awkward moments with people--moments when I know people are coming to conclusions about me and there is nothing I can do about it. Like the one that transpired with the checker at Target yesterday.

Here's the setup: I was with Miss Banana; T-Man and Fearless were at day camp. I had picked out some shirts and pants for the boys (same things in 2 different sizes) and a couple of items for Miss Banana. The guy scanned the baby things without comment, but when he got to the boys' clothes, he asked if I needed a gift receipt. I said no, I have two boys so I needed the things in 2 different sizes. (This is where awkward conversation begins.)

Checker: (surprised) You have 3 kids?!
Me: Yep.
Checker: (suddenly silent, obviously sizing me up and eyeing me suspiciously) How old are they?
Me: 5, 3, and 3 months (flashes wedding ring, trying to project being "older")
At this point the checker is silent and all pleasantry has stopped. Finally, he gets to the "would you like to open a Target credit card?"
Me: (trying to regain camaraderie) No thanks, we are moving to a city that doesn't have a Target
Checker: (not as friendly as before) oh, where's that?
Me: a small, university town
Checker: oh, are you going to start school there?
Me: No, my hubby is going to be a professor there
Checker: Oh! Hmm. (Look that says: TEENAGE MOM MARRIED MUCH MUCH OLDER MAN!)

At this point Miss Banana started wailing, so I had no further chance to try to convince the guy that I was not what he had surmised--I wanted to burst out with "I already have my degree! My children weren't born until after I was finished with college!" but I thought that would maybe add to the wierdness and I decided to just let it go.