"Why the smile, Norm? Tryin' to flirt with me?"

[spritechan]

I got the position within my company. It's a sure bet, and while it won't be perfect like the job I may or may not have gotten at Fabcon, it will be good. I have tons of training this week (see previous post about not getting many mandatory trainings as a result of poor management) so I will be tiiiired. It's just mean to give me all-day trainings DURING THE DAY when my schedule is not only currently a night schedule (ie awake until about 7am), but next week will be a full-time WORK night schedule!! But tonight is the last night of working super far away and taking detours and 12-hour lonely shifts!!

I spent time with my little sister this week. I hung out with her on Thursday, taking Cayden on walks and talking about life. Cayden is teething and so he cries a lot and pulls his poor ear. It's really adorably pathetic! He's a very cute kid and very expressive. I like spending time with her, and it's good too to get to see Tony once in awhile. It brought to mind that when Steve and I move out, while I would like to stay near St. Paul, it would be ideal if we could live in the suburbs closer to Shakopee. Maybe not a lot, but closer than 40 miles. That way I can visit or babysit without it having to seem like such a big deal. We took some long walks and just talked about relationships and having kids and graduating. And some silly stuff.

And Saturday was my brother August's birthday party (he's 12) and I spent time hanging out with my family, laughing and doting on Cayden. Tony raced Haley and a friend of August's. I took Cayden for a walk around the neighborhood and watched him for awhile while Bethany and Tony went with Mom to the store to buy August's iPod touch. Playing the role of Mom was really weird because I knew everyone who drove by was totally judging me, thinking I was a teen mom. And after feeling kinda awkward in that role for a few minutes, I got really mad. Like, I am 22 goddamn years old, if I wanna have a child I can have a child and no one can judge me!!!!! It doesn't matter, though, because no one EVER knows my age. People my parents know still think Bethany's older, and having a kid doesn't help that cause, haha. For reference: I AM FOUR YEARS OLDER THAN SHE IS ;) Then we went back to my parents' and he bopped around my lap for awhile, getting into a fight with a bean bag that was too heavy for him and therefore pissed him off. Babies are still scary, but they can definitely be awfully cute and not impossible.

Comments

[silver-tiamat.livejournal.com]

D= I'm the older sister, too! And my younger sister, Sheena, is the one everyone assumes is older because she's 5 inches taller than me. I've been told I do have somewhat a "baby face," though I have been getting that less and less now that I'm closer to my mid-20s (though a bunch of high schoolers DID just think that I was one of them...eh, I'm a college graduate...high school feels so long ago XD).

And seriously! Though it's a bit young in comparison to people who have their kids in their 30s, but 22-years-old used to be the NORM for kids just two generations ago. When my sister nanny's for her neighbor's 3-year-old and takes her out, she gets treated the same way. I wonder why we (as a society) assume that kids are only ever with their mothers?

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

Exactly! When I nannied I never even worried about it because the kids were 6, 6, and 8, so I figured that even if we were all blonde-haired, blue-eyed people I just look far too young to be their mother. Maybe their sister. And I tried to reflect on my thuoghts on seeing a young person with a baby, and I couldn't really come up with what I've ever thought... I try not to be judgmental of anyone (unless it's for comedy) so maybe I just dismissed any initial opinions? AND while there are MANY people having children around 30-35, there are also A LOT of teens or married-young-starting-a-family-immediately or "I am in the military so I must procreate to carry on my name" -types as well. So it really shouldn't be such a big deal!

I worked at a skating rink over the winter months for a few dollars extra cash, and I had all of the older staff (read: 30's, anyone not in hs) think I was in HS, as well as all the HS kids asking me what school I went to! One woman told me she for real thought I was 15 and skipping school when I was working there during the day. That's the kind of thing I get. Oh, and sometimes in my line of work the clients get really pissed at me because I "think I'm better than they are/know more than they do" because I'm in the position of power but really I'm just a kid, etc. etc. :P I'm ALWAYS asked by people what "grade" I'm in. It's always awkward to be like, "...Oh... I've been in college for 5 years... yeah." XD