Mother Did Know Best

The Colonel told me something the other day that pleased me very much. But before I can tell you what he said, I have to tell you a few things that will help you appreciate why I was so pleased when I heard what I did.

I have always looked older than I am. I think this is partly due to my height. I was one of the girls who always had to stand in the back row for class pictures (I remember one girl who was taller than I was during my grade school years, her name was Barb). I eventually grew to be 5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall; 3 and a half inches taller than the average American woman.

I remember one summer, during my high school years, I was swimming in the local pool when a little girl swam up to me and asked me, "Are you a mother?" I wanted to submerge her little head in the chlorinated water right then and there.

The fact that I found my first gray/white hair when I was a freshman in college didn't help my situation either. I have been coloring my hair ever since. I've been a red head, a blond and now I am back to what I remember as my natural hair color (it has been so long)...a brunette. I have been using Clairol's #12A, Navajo Bronze for a couple of years now.

On occasion, I would whine about looking older to my mom. She said she had a similar experience growing up; looking older than her age (even though she was of average height, she too went gray early, thanks for that gene Mom). She told me that one day my older looks and my chronological age would coincide and then maybe, if I was lucky, I would start looking younger than my age from that day forward.

I think that day has finally arrived...

The Colonel and I attended an appreciation get together for volunteers and instructors for the Life Long Learning Institute (LLI) at the local college. The Colonel has taught some history classes and sits on the board for LLI.

A week later The Colonel had an LLI board meeting to go to and when he got back home he said one of the other board members had paid me a compliment.

"Oh, what did they say?" I asked.

"Well, remember the young couple who were at the appreciation get together, the ones with the toddler?" he said.

"Yes."

"One of the board members thought you were his wife and when I told them that you were my wife they said they thought you looked young, about 8 to 10 years younger than you are."

"REALLY!?!"

I'll be half a century old in September of this year...to be mistaken for someone who is 40 pleases me to no end.

I'll tell you one thing...I'm gonna be coloring my gray hair for a long time yet.