GrowingUp:Don't All Grannies Ride Harleys?

One of the reasons I began keeping this blog was to force myself to write down a few family stories as keepsakes. I wish that my forebears had written more of just the little things that happened in their day to day lives. I imagine they would tell me that they were too busy sailing ships to the new world and revolting against the British to bother themselves with such mundaneness, but whatever. We seem to have an abundance of spareish time in this present age however, so it behooves us to do that which our ancestors had little time for. Journal keeping has been a huge part of my life and is a gigantic part of my religious culture. Let's just think of this as a little journaling...public style.

My parents were young when I was born. Really quite young. My adorable mother is only 18 years older than me. These vignettes are about her...and the issue of her age...or lack of it. I have some rather disturbing stories to tell about my dad being young as well, but I will save those for another day.
As a little girl, I do not remember even thinking that my mom's age was an issue. She just blended in with all of the other moms. They were all oldish. The first of more than a few instances that caught my attention was around the 6th grade. I must have had some sort of doctor's appointment and my mother came to the classroom door to get me. "Hey, NatureGirl, your sister is here!" Sister!? Who could possibly think that a woman in her late 20's would be my sister? Sheesh!

Things got worse as I headed to high school. I, of course, aged. My mother, however, did not. At 5 foot nothing and 100 and nothing pounds she still looked as if she were in her late 20's. She was repeatedly asked for a hall pass every time she stepped onto my high school campus. A doctor once asked me (in her presence) why I did not bring a parent to the appointment. When I pointed out that she was my mother, he asked why I was dressed more adult than she was...Picture a female Alex P. Keaton and her somewhat "laid back" hippie mom...

Oh, and guy friends with crushes on your mom is SO not cool when you are in jr. high! I think though that the most memorable incident happened when I was about 15. I filled in for a friend on a babysitting job for a family I did not know. My mother dropped me off and told me she would pick me up later that evening when the parents were expected home. I guess part of what made this so memorable was the horrible, rotten children. It was a nightmare of an evening and I had finally got the kids settled into bed when my mom got there. The parents were late coming home so we just watched TV for a while. The mother eventually came in and when she saw my mom with me in the living room, she started ranting and raving about how I was NOT to have my silly girlfriends over for who-knows-WHAT kind of shenanigans, and how DARE I, and no WAY was I getting paid. The look on her face when I explained the situation, would have been payment enough, but I believe I may have received something close to double the going babysitting rate that evening!

I still think it is funny how young she is when I am this old. We still get asked if we are sisters when we go places together. No one ever believes that she has grown grandchildren. And all of MY friends wish THIER mothers rode a Harley on the weekends.

Quote of the Day: "Getting old is a fascinating thing...The older you get...the older you want to get."--Ralph Waldo Emerson poet, writer and philosopher