My whole life I’ve looked younger than my age. I remember the first day of elementary school I was holding hands and walking with my mom, someone said to her, “Oh your little daughter is so cute and little! She’s entering Kindergarten?” I remember the day I turned 13, a true teenager, I was so happy and felt so cool and mature until a girl asked me, “How old did you turn today?” I said to her proudly, “Thirteen.” Then she said to me, “Oh I thought you were like 9.” Nine? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Maybe 12, heck I would even take 11 at this point but 9?  A single digit?  I remember feeling so embarrassed and hurt.

 Well, little did I know it was only the beginning of endless comments as such. On my mission when my companion and I would knock on doors to proselyte and introduce us as the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more often than not the person would look at my companion and then me and say to me, “Are you old enough to be a missionary?”
The biggest shock was on P-day(one day a week the missionaries get a day to relax, do laundry, grocery shop and such) we would go to the library to e-mail our friends and family and we signed up on the waiting list for the computer. The librarian called my name so I went up and she looked at me and said, “You have to be 16 to use the computer, dear.” I looked at her and said, “I’m 22.” Then the lady and the other lady next to her looked at each other and laughed out loud! They thought I was joking. When I smiled back at them and told them I wasn’t joking, they looked surprised and had this conversation right in front of me:
Lady 1: “She cannot be 22 years old!”
Lady 2: “Yeah she looks like she’s about…”
Lady 1: “Hmm…she looks like she’s about… 12.”

TWELVE??? I told them you had to be at least 21 to be a missionary for girls and they STILL made me go back to my car to get my I.D! Only after they looked at my birthdate of my license did they believe me and let me use the computer.

Well, now that I’m married and I’m a mother of two kids, I thought it would stop. When I went to Korea last year and everybody was so shocked that I had two kids and would say, “A baby had a baby!”, or “I thought you were in High School!” Literally every single person I met, not kidding you. But I thought since people in Korea get married late and have kids later, that made sense.

Well, this year in the year 2010, I’ve already had 3 instances.

1. I got hit on by a boy who looked no older than 16 at my Orthodontics. Yeah, enough said.

2. Then a few weeks ago a mailman came knocking on our door. I opened the door and he looked at me and asked me if my parents were home. I told him I was the mother of the household and after a slight pause he then asked me, “Well, are you 16 or older? you have to be at least 16 to sign this.”

3. Then just today. This photographer asked me if she could use me to take High School senior pictures to promote her work.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I even asked Jay one time, “Do you look at me as a woman or a little girl?” haha. I don’t know whether to be flattered or offended? I want to look like a woman! Not a little girl! shesh.

I guess me dressing up as a HS cheerleader doesn’t help my image.
But I’m a mother of two kids, I swear!

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