Just Like Sally O'Malley

Living near a college campus, I am constantly reminded of that fact that I am no longer a college student.  (I am also reminded of how ugly the colors green are white are.  Ha ha.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Go Blue!)  Mike and I will be driving around, and I'll be thinking Seriously?  You're wearing that?  Skinny Jeans?  You're a dude! or Wow, that girl really should put a hat on.  It's cold out there!  But no matter how out of touch I feel as I watch twenty-somethings walk to class, I still feel like I'm one of them, even with two diaper bags slung across my back and Anna screaming in her stroller.

Yes, yes, I know that I lead a very rich fantasy life.  In my head, though, I am convinced that everyone around me also thinks I am still a college student, and the bags under my eyes and lack of showering are due to the fact that I was pulling an all-nighter to finish a paper or playing beer pong into the wee hours at some really cool party.  Wow they are probably thinking.  That poor girl.  Going to college AND raising a baby.  Or even better, I imagine that they think I am just Anna's nanny.  Because SURELY I look much, much too young to have a baby of my own.

That fantasy was sufficiently kicked to the curb on Friday, when I found this in my mailbox.

Dear AARP,  SUCK IT!  Love, Leslie

REALLY?!??  I know that I have not been using my anti-aging moisturizer quite as often as I should be, but I certainly don't think that I look like I'm fifty.  (I kick! I stretch!) Admittedly, I do spend a lot of my time in pajamas, I really love knitting, and I recently took up the hobby of mall walking, but come on.  What a cruel, cruel contrast to my "college girl with a baby" fantasy.  

So I guess maybe this is the universe's way of telling me that I need to stop fretting about turning thirty and just enjoy where I am right now.  I may not be the college girl that I once was, but I have a long ways to go until I really will be able to classify myself as a "retired person".  

And in the meantime, I might just go ahead and send in for that membership.  I hear they get some pretty sweet deals...