I'm Old.

Me at a 3 months of age. I should have shown the Elder that we even had colored film when I was a baby.

Recently, when we had the full time missionaries over for dinner the Elders (the official title for male, full time missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) were asking about when Mike and I served our full time missions. (Mike went to Italy, I went to Texas.) The conversation was lovely, as both Mike and I love to share mission stories with anyone that will listen. Then, one of the Elders asked if Mike and I used filmstrips to teach people about the gospel. (Missionaries teach about the church with a series of lessons. When I was on my mission we taught 6 individual lessons called, 'discussions' that shared all about our faith. Occasionally, missionaries will show a video to reinforce what the lessons taught).


Don't worry...I didn't come across the table and try to wring the youthful Elder's neck...


Although, I should have tried...it may have been fun to see how much strength the old girl has left in her...


I laughed and said something along the lines of, "No, when Mike and I were in the mission field they had these newfangled things called VCR's to show people these cutting edge forms of media called video tapes.


It was interesting to me that the Elder assumed that we were old enough to have used filmstrips as opposed to videos. It was kind of like being asked by a child if, "They had invented TV when I was little or if we just had the radio."


Not that any of my children would ask me something so insensitive. *cough*


I have been feeling really old, lately...


It has been interesting to have a baby at the age of 38. Okay, fine, I was 38 when Little John was born (or surgically removed as I still call it) and I turned 39, 14 days later. Don't confuse me with the facts...I was still only 38 when John was born. Late night feedings and all of the other things that come with a tiny baby have been a lot more exhausting than they were some 6 years earlier when Brian was a baby. I have told Mike repeatedly that, "I musta' broke somethin' in the last 6 years, cause this is hard."


The other day Evan announced, "Hey Mom, you and Dad are gonna be 60 when John is on his mission." (Young men leave to serve missions at the age of 19)


I immediately protested with a defensive, "We will not.....*blink*...*blink*......will we, Mike?" (60 seemed so old to me)


Mike thought about it for a minute and then said, "Well, you will be 58 when he leaves but I will only be 57."

To which I defensively added, "Well...for only part of the year...I'm only 5 months older than you are."

Then we exchanged our usual banter about me being a, "cougar".


Brian will occasionally say in a teasing tone, "Mooooom, you are gonna be siiiiiixty on John's missssssssssiooooon." I know that Brian doesn't understand all of the implications as to why being 60 and having a child in the mission field makes me mortified...but he knows that it drew a great reaction from me when the conversation originally came up so he continues to taunt me. (Brian may look more like me, but trust me, he is his father's child.)

Evan, who has been looking through all of my high school yearbooks lately, announced to me the other day, "Hey mom, when we have a 'Spirit Week' we will have 80's day...I saw in your yearbook that you are so old that you had 50's day or 60's day." I couldn't believe it...he was right...I am old enough for my child to dress up like I did in high school.


At the beginning of this school year, we asked all of the kids how they liked their new teachers. When it was Evan's turn we asked him how he likes his new English teacher, Ms. Norris. (Ms. Norris is an adorable, size 2, little blonde...you know the type...) Evan responded with a nonchalant, "She's fine." to which Mike replied teasingly..."She's fine? or She is fiiiiiiiine?" (are you noticing a theme here? Mike likes to tease. He often teases the boys that girls from school are their girlfriends to glean a reaction. He is never mean spirited, though. It is all good natured banter)

Anyway...later in the week, I found a long, brown, strand of hair (most likely mine) on Brian's shoulder. I wanted to tease him about having a girlfriend the way Mike will try and tease the boys. I said something along the lines of, "Briaaannnn, I found a long hair on your shoulder...It obviously belongs to a giiiirl...is it your girlfriend's?"


To which he replied dryly, "No mom, it's your hair...because your hair is getting old and it's falling off."


Well, alrighty then.


Now I am going to go take a nap. If nothing else, this post provides ample proof that I am no spring chicken anymore, and could benefit from frequent naps.
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