The Tuesday Discount Club

Nothing makes you feel old like the first official email about your 20-year high school reunion. Or so I thought. The email came last week, along with my 38^th birthday. I’ve always been a true believer in age is relative and have always embraced my inner child, but 38 has been hard to accept. It just sounds so much like 40. Ha. And my nephew, who is 15, is quick to remind me how close I am to 40. Still, I think I try to stay hip. I text, I tweet, I facebook, I’m still on MySpace. I listen to Lady Gaga – and love her stuff. I’ve played on a Wii. And I still got tons of Snoopy stuff for my birthday and loved it all!

But earlier this week, two things happened (in one day) that have never made me feel older in my life.  Tuesday after work my sister met me at a church where I will be taking official wedding photos Saturday so I could take some test shots. It’s my first wedding gig, so I want to be prepared. We had a good time, being silly while we took the practice shots. And the preacher couldn’t have been sweeter – he was quite the talker! At one point, he looked at my sister and asked me if she was my daughter! I just politely said, “No, she’s my baby sister.” In his defense, she is eight years younger and looks like she’s in her early 20s and can sometimes pass for a teenager, believe it or not. Ahhh, I remember when I used to be mistaken for being in my early 20s. Sigh. This has happened before and how do you get mad at a preacher, so I just went about my business.

Jill & I then went to dinner and stopped off at Ross to shop for clothes. She has lost 75 pounds in the last six months, so for the first time in awhile, we weren’t shopping in the same section. It was kind of depressing. It was one of those shopping trips where everything I tried on made me look like a Sumo wrestler. Bleh. I managed to find a couple of things to purchase, so we headed to the register. The cashier asked me if I found everything ok, then proceeded to ask me if I was a member of the Tuesday Discount Club. I slowly looked over at the window where the sign read, “Seniors 55 and up – 10% off on Tuesdays.” I looked back at the cashier and said, “Do I seriously look 55 or over?” Poor girl. She apologized and explained that one time she didn’t ask and the lady got mad, so I guess she thought potentially offending someone was better. Ugh. Somehow I got through the transaction without screaming at her, but told Jill I’d wait in the car. By the time she got there, I was bawling. In the past I probably would have let the cashier have it, but for some reason that night, it simply hurt my feelings. So two times in one day I was mistaken for being 20 years older than I really am.

Booking the Botox appointment next week.