The Perpetual Child
Originally published at Morbid Romantic. You can comment here or there.
My problem is that I am short with the looks of a teenager. No matter how I dress myself, style my make up or do my hair, I will still end up looking like a teenager playing the part. I’m three years to 30 and I can’t even pass for an 18 year old without being carded and looked at twice. Normally, I don’t let this get to me. There are definite advantages to getting to eat from the cheaper kids menu or getting into events for half off. I’ve had some bad moments like a waitress asking me if I wanted the kids menu on my 21st birthday, but I generally take it in stride. After all, they don’t know me and must go on their first impression or assumptions.
Sometimes, every once in a while, I can’t help but get annoyed. The world doesn’t see or treat me like the adult that I am. It’s a shock to be at one second a figure of authority and the next someone not taken seriously due to young physical features. I get offended even though I know that it’s not the fault of the people around me. As I’ve said, these people can’t be blamed for the impression that they take of me without knowing me. I DO look 16.
What annoys me the most is that people don’t take my opinions or knowledge as valid. Heck, most of the time I am not even asked for them. Even at 27, just because of how I look, I am shifted off to the kids table away from the adults. My family does this, too, which is very hurtful. Neither strangers nor family ask me to share what I know. After all, what would a teenager have to say about international trade tariffs, or the lack of clean water in the developing world or American politics? Someone who is 16 can’t have an educated and informed opinion.
But, I am a 27 year old with a very educated and informed view of the world that I don’t get to share merely because of my appearance.
It is something I am going to have to get used to until I wrinkle and my age shows. I don’t tan, which is part of the reason I look so young. I have good, plump skin. I probably won’t really wrinkle for a long, long time. I can imagine being 40 and still getting the kid’s menu. This is my fate, frustrating though it is.