Thursday, October 30, 2008

Wait... How Old Am I Again?

When I was a little kid, I always knew how old I was even to the fraction of a year. ("I'm 7 and three-quarters!") And you always wanted to be older than you were, too-- one day past your 9th birthday, and you were almost 10. You couldn't wait until you were 16 and could drive. Then it was on to the Magical Age of 18. And then 21.

Then, inexplicably, sometime in my mid-20's, I realized I was losing touch with my age. People would ask me how old I was, and I'd actually have to think about it. And in my early 30's, I'd even have to resort to subtracting my birth year from the actual year to get it right.

It was about three months ago that it dawned on me that I had been telling everyone, for the past six months or so, that I was 38.

Ok, if I'm going to screw up my age, why did I decide to make myself older? Couldn't I have erred to the younger side of things?

Tomorrow, I will officially be 38. I will have grown into the age I thought I was. :)

13 comments:

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

It's down to old age :) My husband ALWAYS forgets how old he is. He's been telling people for at least a year now that he's 31 (he's 32 - whenever I correct him on his age he always says 'it's taken me this long to adjust to one age and I have to do it all over again after my birthday!). He blanked out his 30th birthday altogether and thought he was 29 for two years. I'm 26. Never had a problem with remembering that :)

And happy birthday! Hope you have a great one and are spoilt rotten!

dadoftwo said...

A happy, happy birthday to you. May you have thirty-eight wishes, each of them true.

Sean (Writer Dad)

MLight said...

Happy Birthday! Dear husband has the tendency to tell everyone he's a year older than he is. This year, he confused me because I'm a year younger than he is so I just subtracted a year from his (overestimated) age and thought I was a year older than I really was.

GreenJello said...

michelle, your turn is coming. :)

38 wishes? Wow... I'll have to think on that one for awhile. Thanks, Sean. :)

mlight, I'm glad I'm not the only one out there that's going senile in the age department!

Jen said...

I do the same thing. After I turned 25, that was the year my son was born, I totally lost track. I remember my age for about a month after my birthday and then, well does it really matter?

Jen - Queen of Poo said...

Well, if you're going to realize you were wrong about your age, isn't it nicer to realize that you are actually younger than you've been saying?

Maternal Mirth said...

This entire year I had to prepare for 30, so I told everyone I was 40. I look like I am 12. There were a lot of confused people 'round my parts.

Maternal Mirth said...

oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

steenky bee said...

What? Birthween? You have a birthween (birthday on halloween). I do the same thing with my age. I just keep thinking to the year ahead and planning how old I'll be. I'm 36....I think. I just had to check with my husband. Yeah, I'm almost positive. Happy Birthday a little early!

GreenJello said...

Jen #1, it seems to matter to these nosy people who want me to fill out forms for insurance and crap. Curse them!

Jen #2, hmmmmm... hadn't looked at it that way.

mirth, I shall have to remember that tactic. But I'd have to tell everyone I'm turning 50. Not sure if I want to go THAT far.

Jen #3, I like the term "Birthween". :) I always told people that being born on Halloween just makes me a total weenie.

Mrs. C. said...

It'll be O.K., Suz. I've been 38 for almost a whole year now and it hasn't hurt a bit. We can enjoy being 38 together for a few days before I move on to the big Jack Benny birthday.. TA-DA! 39 forever ya know.

O happy day from one old broad to another.

Mrs. C.

GreenJello said...

Mrs. C., I am a terrible friend because I don't remember when anyone's birthdays were from 20 years ago. (Ok, now I'm having a twitching fit just thinking that I haven't seen you for over 20 years. That's more than half my life!)

Happy 39 whenever it occurs! :)

Mrs. C. said...

The twitching will be way cool, you can do it in front of the girls' friends and pretend it's some old-lady dance thing. Or maybe an early senility thing...

Thanks for the birthday shout-out!

O happy (and rainy..always rainy..)Monday.
Mrs. C.