So last night I had the first smack in the face that I’m growing up. I was out at the local SCA meeting (Society for Creative Anachronism, medieval re-enactment… please - no hijacking the thread).
In any case, I was at the meeting and there’s a boy who’s nine and comes with his mom and he’s my bud. I love kids and being 6’5" I’m a natural human jungle jim.
So we’re playing and I start talking with a newcomer, getting to know them and they get to know me, I told them I was in school, told them I was working this summer, and introduced Eric, nine years old etc etc.
And the guy busts out with “WOW! Twenty, in college, working and taking care of a kid! Man, I couldn’t do it.”
To which I responded, trying hard not to faint at the thought, “No way! Neither can I!”
I mean, come on, I would have been 11 when he was born. Dude, do the math. But in his defense, I guess I did talk like Eric was my kid.
To top it off, Eric lost his dad last year, some sort of accident as I recall. Never asked too much about it. So I was cringing afterwards, amazed he handles his dad not being around so well.
Well, I have a co-worker who is 24, married to a 37-year-old man with a 16-year-old son. She refers to the son as her own, which has confused any number of people. Maybe your new acquaintance thought that your situation was something like this, or perhaps an adoptive situation? It’s not at all unreasonable.
I see you and raise you.
When I was a kid, my neighbor 64 married a girl of 18. His son, from his first marriage, (37) then started dating his step-mom’s mother. :eek:
We used to sit around trying to figure out who would be related to who and how, if the son ever married his own step-mother-in-law.
Well, I knew a girl who got pregnant at 12 and had the kid at 13, then ended up marrying the brother of her babydaddy. She was my age and I saw them at a local convience store when I was 20. She did not look 20!
And the kid, wow, a little working class punk in training. Not by his personality, but he had on jeans, high tops, a red muscle shirt and his hair was a long and curly mullet. And he had one ear pierced. Oh, and he had a tattoo on one upper arm. I’m pretty sure it was real. Did I mention he was seven years old? It cracked me up, this mini mullet with a tattoo going, “Mom! How much is this ice cream?”
Hubby and I went to file ValleyGirl’s passport paperwork (note: this is in a small town office, where the federal gov’t has contracted out paperwork accpetance to the Town Clerk). As she was only 3 months at the time, we carried her into the office in her car seat. We put the car seat on the floor and rocked it with our feet while waiting. Finally, the guy at his desk turns to us. Hubby says, “This is the paperwork for my daughter’s passport.”
Passport guy begins to look over the paperwork, then looks up at us. “You’ve got an error in the birthdate.”
“Huh?” I say. “I thought I proofed it.”
“Well, you’ve written 2004 for your birthyear.”
Small silence. Hubby says, “No, it’s for our daughter.” <picks up the baby to show him>
My husband has a cousin who, when he was in his 20s, was “dating” a woman in her 50s, who also happened to be his sister’s MIL.
I’m not even going to mention that the cousin’s name is Bubba.
When I was scarcely 21, I lived in a campground in Rangely Colorado, an oil-boom town back when Jimmy Carter was in the waning months of his Presidency.
Fell in with this family, a couple and their 9 year old kidling and a new baby.
I remember walking down the main drag (don’t remember name, probably Main Stret, and if not, equivalent thereof) with the 8 year old and with the baby in my arms. Got some interesting doubletakes from townfolks who didn’t know us and a big obvious one from the restaurant maitre’d dude at the Mexican restaurant we were headed to to meet up with the Mom and Pop.
I could see their conjectures like cartoon balloons. Hmm, they are his kids? Ehh, he doesnt’ look old enough for the girl to be his daughter. Hmm, maybe they are a couple and that’s their baby? Ehh, she doesn’t look old enough to be anyone’s mommy, heck she’s gotta be a kid. Aha, they are no doubt all siblings, that’s it. Ehh, damn that’s quite an age-spread. Seems unlikely. Hmm, maybe they are his kids? …
Don’t sell yourself short. I used to work with a girl who was living with a 27-year-old guy who had 7 children by at least 2 women. All the kids came to visit at once (in their tiny two-bedroom apartment!) and my co-worker was telling me their names and ages, and the oldest child was 15! She didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with her boyfriend not only starting to father children at 12, but continuing do so at regular intervals…she was then-pregnant with (his) baby #8. Apparently the concept of a condom was completely foreign to this guy. I often wondered what his family had been like.
My best friend has 2 girls, aged 12 & 10. Last summer they only lived a couple of houses away.
Her oldest daughter (A) was outside playing with her friend and the friend asked if she wanted to go swimming. A told her that she couldn’t, because her Grandma was going to be picking her up shortly for a sleep over.
Not 30 seconds after A told her friend, I came walking around the corner. A, as always, ran up to me and gave me a big hug. A’s friend K, looks at her and says “A, is that your Gramma?” My bestfriend who was sitting on her outside step, fell over laughing.
ME??? A Gramma to a 12 year old?? :eek: I am 31, and I still get ID’d everywhere I go!! My best friend still won’t let me live this down.
When Mr. S and I were first dating, I took a locket to a jewelry shop to be repaired. The jeweler opened the locket and said, “Oh, is this your mom and dad?” I said, “No, it’s my mom and my BOYFRIEND.” Granted, Mr. S and my mother are only 11 years apart, but still . . . he’s only 11 years older than ME, and looks younger than his age!
I have been assumed to be the daughter of two different boyfriends. I was way over 30 at the time and actually 2 years older than one and 3 years older than the other. Also, one was half-Japanese and I am as Causasian as I can be. But I am very petite so I think some people just see a small size and don’t look very close.
