On aging

I'm about to turn 23 and Rachel turns 1 in exactly 1 month. We're both getting old.

We went swimming on Wednesday and a girl, who I think was just a few years younger than me, came up to me and said,

"How old is your baby, ma'am?"

Ma'am? Ma'am? What was she calling me ma'am for?

I immediately began to feel old. Ma'am is for old people.

Lucky for us, we also went to the temple that day where everyone was prone to calling me "sweetie" and other such names that instantly made me feel much younger.

It's kind of strange to be this old and not feel this old. There was a time in my life when I thought that 20 was old and I always thought I would feel old at that age. Not any more. I still feel young. There was also a time in my life when I thought 50 was old, but even that doesn't seem all that old anymore.

We went to the library today to pick out some board books for our trip. Rachel helped by pulling book after book after book off the shelf. We ended up taking home only 20.

There was another family in that area of the library with three kids, probably between the ages of 2 and 6 years old. They kept coming over to see the "baby" and to read to the "baby" and to give the "baby" books. I was pleased that, although they probably thought I was some old momma, they still were calling Rachel a baby.

A few children have called her "little girl" and I really don't like that since she's still my little baby!

I was also glad that those children didn't comment on my age because they weren't too tactful.

When we went to check out our books we were first in line, and then there was that family with three kids behind us, and then there was an elderly woman, who could perhaps be more accurately described as 'ancient' in the back.

"You're so old," said one of the boys, "Are you going to die soon?"

"Not too soon," said the woman.

The boy then went on to pester the woman with a constant stream of questions spewing out of his mouth unchecked, while his mother turned beet red and tried to shush him.

"You're so old! Can you even see? Why are you checking out books if you can't see? Shouldn't you be in a wheelchair? My grandpa has a wheelchair and he isn't even as old as you! Do you have a hearing aid? Is your husband dead? Are your children dead? When are you going to die? Are you going to get even older before you die?"

I was only able to imagine how embarrassed that poor mother must have been. How happy I was that Rachel still lacks the ability to speak, sparing me the duty of empathizing and allowing me to only wonder at her embarrassment.