Glimpse In A Mirror

I Can't Believe What Just Happened

I've always had a baby face. When I was in college, I was carded at R movies, which my dates thought was hilarious, but was a real drag at bars. I was even carded until I was almost 30. I remember once I made a bet with a date that I would be carded if we stopped. I won that bet.

So imagine my shock tonight when I stopped at my neighborhood Ross store and the perky 20-year-old clerk asked me if I was a member of their Tuesday Club. No, I haven't heard of it. Well, if I'll just tell her my age, whisper it she says, I can save an extra 10% on my purchase. That twirp thought I was over 55 and was offering me their Senior Citizen discount! My jaw dropped open, and the people in line behind me gave me a look like they could tell I wasn't that old. I'm only 43.

I just sat in my truck and pondered how this could have happened. Here I am, feeling very powerful physically in my life because of my ongoing health goals and progress, feeling very alive and comfortable in my own skin, and some clerk thinks I'm a senior. Last month, the eye doc wrote me a prescription for bi-focals without asking me if I wanted them. (I didn't, I got reading glasses instead.) How can such diverse and polar opposites be part of my experience at the same time, feeling so great about myself and having other people comment on my age. What kind of a vibe am I putting out that people are reading as "old." Maybe it is my newfound wisdom. My gawd, there isn't even noticable gray in my light brown hair. I'm still pre-menopausal. I'M NOT OLD!!!