An Ode to Oldness

Once upon a time there was a very young 22-year-old girl who started a job--and a career--as a 9-1-1 operator/police dispatcher. Within just a few years she was a supervisor, and her technical aptitude was, well, not necessarily legendary, but people thought she was pretty cool.  She was called "whiz kid" more than once. 

Fast forward a few.. okay, almost 20, years and this "girl" is in a new job, totally different field, and is doing pretty well at it. She has technical aptitude for this job too. The problem is, no one thinks it's that big of a deal. No one has ever called her a whiz kid. This is for a very good reason--she's older than 90 percent of the other employees, including her superiors. 

The problem is, she still sees herself as a 26-year-old. 

This, sadly, is no fairy tale. It's reality, and it's my reality. I get sad when I look in the mirror and realize that I, unfortunately, am OLD. What's worse, I see the people around me who were 26 when I was 26, and they still look 26. My best friend from college posted a picture, and it could have been taken in the dorms. She looks great. I don't look great. I look tired, and there's a weird wrinkle between my eyebrows that comes from glaring at my children glaring at the sun and glaring at a computer screen. My back hurts--all the time, and I find myself wanting to nap instead of watch a movie--or worse, napping during the movie and annoying everyone by waking up asking what's going on 2/3 of the way through. 

But, I'm only 26. 

Then, my son goes and asks a girl to prom. His first date. (It was "Cops and Robbers" day for Spirit Week. He had the cute idea to dress like a cop and give his friend donuts that say "Go to prom with me". That's why he looks like a police recruit here)

They let 8-year-old boys go to prom now, apparently. Oh. Wait. Crap. I'm old.

My niece, who should by all rights only be 6 years old, is graduating from high school in a few weeks. She was terrible enough to send me a graduation announcement. 

Yes. I'm old. 

I'm going to go take a nap.