Since I was a child I have always looked younger than I was. I remember my mother telling me that one day I would love it. In many ways it is a huge blessing, and somewhat a curse at the same time. Below is a picture of me at the age of 11 when I sang for a boy choir. In this picture the two kids behind me were actually a year younger than I was. As you can see I looked tiny in comparison. Now in middle school being small was an invitation to get my ass kicked on a daily basis, and I did.
Now at this point in time there were two twins named Jason and Jeremy who were quite possibly the biggest jack asses I have ever met. Their dad was a Dr and a specialist and made quite a bit of money. Now granted my parents weren't doing poorly themselves, but my mother did not feel the need to buy overly expensive cars to cart me around in. Now at the church I went to there was a vending machine that I would save up my money for the week so on the weekend for choir practice. I would go and get some goodies from the magical dispenser. This of course attracted attention from Jason and Jeremy, who would proceed on almost every occasion to jump me and steal my bag of skittles, laugh and run off while sharing their loot. They of course did this because they knew I wasn't going to do anything, and in thought, I couldn't do much even if I tried.
Now they also went to school with me, so I could not avoid them even during the week, and to top it off, their parents and my parents were friends, and we car pooled together. The added torture of having to sit next to them in a car everywhere just added insult to injury. Of course they were saints in the car when their parents drove, as to not create any suspicion.
As it occurred many times before I was at the vending machine, and had just gotten my bag of colorful candy and started to eat it when the twins run up shove me down and grab my candy out of my hand and start walking off with their typical jollies. This time I snapped, and did something unexpected. While their backs were turned I jumped on Jason from behind putting all my weight into it. He never saw it coming, and fell face first to the ground. I then proceeded to punch him in the head many times. I half expected his brother to jump in, as I was outnumbered. As it turned out his brother was actually quite the pussy and started crying seeing Jason get pounded. He yelled at me to stop, where I stood up to him and punched him in the arm to show I wasn't going to let him off either.
The end result was they never messed with me again. When they started giving a hard time to other children, I would walk up to them and start making fun of them, knowing I had the power in this instance. They were afraid that I would get violent again, and would always apologize and run off. What I learned at that moment was that no matter how small you are, or may feel, bullies generally only bully thinking no one will stand up to them. I never let my size be an issue after that point, and never took flack from anyone. Most people are thrown off when you stand up to them, and in my case am actually quite sarcastic and snide in my response to anyone who tries to start something.
Now the above picture was taken when I was 19. I meet many people who knew me in high school and are very surprised to see that I have not changed a lot since then physically The below picture is me at what in a week will be 33. The main difference is that I had some moles removed, and of course different dress style. This is good and bad. The upside is that when I go out, no one thinks I am as old as I am. It is somewhat flattering to have 20 year old girls flirting with me, thinking I am their age. On the downside, co-workers think I am a kid, and not experienced. I once went to a job interview and the interviewer kept asking me how old I was when I worked at AOL, thinking I had to have been in high school at the time, since I didn't look old enough to have work history 10 years back. She thought I was lying. I told her, no I was of drinking age when I worked there and she almost fell off her seat. My most recent job I said I had a Mac when was a kid, and someone said "you still look like a kid". Another gem was a British girl who said, "when I was your age" and she was 5 years younger than me. I looked at her, and said "you never were my age".
In the dating world this is also an issue at times. Many girls my age don't look at me twice as I look like a kid to them. They often want a "man" and I have had occurances where girls that I was interested in say to come back in a few years, or that I was to young, or simply didn't find me mature enough in whatever way (usually without actually saying it, but implied). I of course could go on dates with younger girls, who think I am only 24, but that also is a huge problem. Girls in their early 20's just want to party and have fun, and are not ready to settle down. I have no desire to get caught up in their silliness.
In a world where my dating competition is gradually getting greyer, and balder, and fater, I would have to say it is nice to not look my age. At the same time, sometimes I do wish that I were more macho, and rugged looking at times. My boyish charms don't work so well when someone realizes that I am 33. I can only milk that for so long. I guess I shouldn't really complain about my vampire genes, as many wish they looked younger themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment