"are you working on your birthday?" one of my coworkers asked me.

"yeah."

she was shocked. "why would you do that?"

"linda," i said, "my birthday stopped being exciting when i was like 12."

she smirked. (i hate it when people do that) "ha, well you think that now, just wait until you get older, then you'll want to take the day off, you'll want people to make it a big deal. you're young, that's why you think that."


no, i thought to myself. i don't think that because i'm young. i think that because the world doesn't stop just because it's the anniversary of the day i was born. after all, it doesn't revolve around me. and if you knew me at all, you'd know that i don't really like it at all when people make a big deal out of my birthday. it's just not me.

a little while later we got to talking about religion. *sigh*

i said, "well i just think that if the decision to have my child baptized was an educated one, it would help to prevent my child from falling outside of the baptismal comittment. i mean, baptism is a life-altering choice, and if i choose to make that for my child, then i should know what i'm committing to."

"do you really think that baptism changes your life?" now she was borderline condescending.

"yes i do."

smirked again. "ha, you think that because you're young. you'll change your mind once you've lived a bit more."

my blood was boiling. really? i thought almost outloud. you have to be a certain age to understand baptism? lady, you've got no clue . . . your logic doesn't even make sense.




i guess i just wish that people wouldn't misunderstand me because of my age. 'aren't you too young to get married?' 'wow, you're way too young to start a family.' 'you think you're invincible because you're young.' 'but you're so young, why don't you go out and party more?' blah blah blah . . . . surprisingly, the way that i reason has very little to do with how old i am. because i don't reason the way that a 'typical' 22 year old reasons. when will age be just a number?

i guess 23 is no more credible than 22. . .